Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna on Wednesday got a fresh apology published in leading newspapers for misleading advertisements of Patanjali’s medicinal products. This time, the apology was bigger in size after the Supreme Court pulled up the duo for not “prominently” displaying it previously.
The ad published this morning covers one-fourth of a newspaper page and is titled “Unconditional Public Apology”.
“In wake of ongoing matter before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India (Writ Petition C. No. 645/2022), we in our individual capacity as well as on behalf of the Company, unconditionally apologise for the non-compliance or disobedience of directions/ orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India,” it read.
In the advertisement, Ramdev and Balkrishna said they “unconditionally apologise” in their individual capacity as well as on behalf of Patanjali Ayurved for “the non-compliance or disobedience of directions/orders of the Supreme Court of India”.
“We earnestly apologise for the mistake made in publishing our advertisements and it is our whole-hearted commitment that such errors will not be repeated,” the apology stated.
The ad published yesterday was smaller and did not specifically mention the names of Ramdev and Balkrishna.
Hearing the matter on Tuesday, the bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice A Amanullah had asked if the apology had been published prominently. “Has the apology been published prominently? Same font and size as your earlier advertisements?” Justice Kohli had asked.
Also Read: Centre turned blind eye, chose to ‘keep eyes shut’ over misleading ads by Patanjali Ayurved: SC
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Ramdev and Balkrishna, told the court that the apology was published in 67 newspapers at a cost of Rs 10 lakh, but the court was firm. “Please cut out the ads and then supply it to us. Do not enlarge them and supply it to us. We want to see the actual size. This is our direction… we want to see that when you issue an ad, it does not mean we have to see it by a microscope,” Justice Kohli said.
Prior to that, Ramdev and Balkrishna had tendered an “unconditional and unqualified apology” before the top court over advertisements issued by the firm making tall claims about the medicinal efficacy of its products like Coronil during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The matter will be heard next on April 30 and Ramdev and Balkrishna have been asked to appear in court.