The Supreme Court was informed that Chhattisgarh Police filed a closure report in the case over yoga guru Ramdev’s remarks on allopathy during Covid. The Centre said complaints appeared “sponsored,” while the matter is now adjourned to December.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday was told that the Chhattisgarh Police has filed a closure report in the case linked to yoga guru Ramdev’s alleged comments against allopathic medicines during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed a bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma about the development. He also told the court that the complaints against Ramdev seemed to have been “sponsored” by some interested groups.
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Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for Ramdev, said that Chhattisgarh has already filed its reply in line with the earlier directions of the court, but Bihar has not yet filed its response.
After hearing this, the bench adjourned the case for December. Earlier, the court had also directed that the complainants should be impleaded as parties in Ramdev’s plea seeking a stay on criminal proceedings.
The complaints against Ramdev were first filed in 2021 by the Patna and Raipur chapters of the Indian Medical Association (IMA). The IMA alleged that Ramdev’s remarks could harm the Covid control measures and may “dissuade people from availing proper treatment.”
In response, Ramdev had impleaded the Centre, the states of Bihar and Chhattisgarh, along with the IMA as parties to his petition.
Dave also pointed out that in 2021, Ramdev had made a statement saying he does not believe in allopathic medicines.
He said,
“my client made a statement in 2021 that he does not believe in allopathic medicines to which some doctors took offence and lodged multiple cases against him.”
As part of his interim plea, Ramdev requested the Supreme Court to grant a stay on the investigation into the criminal complaints filed against him.
The IMA had lodged complaints both in Bihar and Chhattisgarh, accusing him of making misleading statements against the use of allopathy during the pandemic. Based on these complaints, the yoga guru was booked under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
Ramdev’s statements had sparked a huge nationwide debate on Allopathy versus Ayurveda. However, after a letter from the then Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, who called his remarks “inappropriate,” Ramdev withdrew his comments.
Later, the Delhi Medical Association (DMA) also approached the court, seeking permission to be made a party to the case. The DMA alleged that Ramdev had insulted allopathy and “instigated” people to ignore vaccines and standard treatment protocols.
The DMA, which represents about 15,000 doctors, further claimed that Ramdev’s company Patanjali made more than Rs 1,000 crore by selling its “Coronil” kits, which they alleged were not approved by any competent authority.
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