Coming down heavily on the Indian Medical Association (IMA) president for his remarks in an interview, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said that while it is the first one to uphold the freedom of speech, “there are times when there should be self-restraint”.
IMA president Dr RV Asokan is drawing fire from the apex court for his remarks in an interview, during which he commented on the court’s ruling in the misleading advertisement case against Patanjali Ayurved, founded by Yoga guru Ramdev and his aide Balkrishna.
In an interview, Asokan said it was unfortunate that the Supreme Court criticised the practice of IMA and private doctors.
Notably, IMA is the petitioner in the case against Patanjali for misleading claims about its products.
Also Read: “But what were you doing?” Supreme Court raps IMA in Patanjali misleading ads case
The top court also expressed dissatisfaction with the apology submitted by the president of the Indian Medical Association, Dr RV Asokan, for his remarks in a media interview over certain observations made by the court, Live Law reported.
Pulling up Asokan today, the bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice A Amanullah said, “We would have expected more sense of responsibility from you… you can’t vent your feelings against the court in the press like this. What made you go suddenly like this?”
The IMA chief offered an unconditional apology. Justice Kohli replied, “Whether we should accept your statements after such damaging statements, you are the one who dragged the other side to the court, saying they are denigrating you, but when you are put to test…?”
The bench added that it is not happy with his affidavit. Questioning why he did not issue a public apology, the court asked, “Everything was written in black and white, why did you not make amends if you truly wanted to apologise? What did you do to redeem yourself after the interview? Tell us.”
Also Read: ‘You are not innocent’: Supreme Court raps Ramdev over Patanjali misleading ads case
“We are the first one to uphold the freedom of free speech. But there are times when there should be self-restraint. As IMA President, you should have had self-restraint. That’s the point! We didn’t see that in your interviews,” Justice Kohli said.
The bench said judges use their discretion with some sense of responsibility. “But that does not mean you go to town with these kinds of comments. You cannot just sit on a couch and say anything about the court. What would you have done if the other side made this kind of comment? You would have come running to this Court,” the bench said.
The court said it is not convinced by the affidavit submitted by the IMA president, describing it as “too little, too late”.
The bench also dispensed with the personal appearance of Ramdev and Balkrishna. Ramdev and Balkrishna were present before the apex court pursuant to its earlier direction. The bench granted Patanjali three weeks to file affidavits indicating the steps taken to recall misleading ads for Patanjali products, for which licences have been suspended.
Also Read: Patanjali ads case: Supreme Court orders Ramdev, Balkrishna to appear before it in contempt case
“Public is cognisant, if they have choices they make well informed choices… Baba Ramdev has a lot of influence, use it in the right was,” the bench said after reserving orders in the contempt case.