A misleading advertisement case has been filed against Patanjali Ayurveda Limited and the Supreme Court is constantly taking Baba Ramdev to task. In the meantime, yoga guru Ramdev and his assistant Balakrishna again issued a public apology in the newspapers for disobeying the Supreme Court’s directive.
This is the second time that an apology has been published by the Patanjali organization in a daily. Just yesterday (April 23), the court questioned whether the apology was published “as big as the earlier misleading advertisement was published”.
The ad, published this morning, covers one-fourth of a newspaper page and is titled “Unconditional Public Apology”. “Given the pending matter (Writ Petition C. No. 645/2022) in the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, we tender our unconditional apology in our personal capacity and on behalf of the Company for not complying with or disobeying the directions/orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India,” the apology said.
Also, “We apologize unconditionally for more than the 22.11.2023 meeting/press conference. We sincerely apologize for the error in publishing our ads. It is our absolute commitment that such mistakes are not repeated.”
“We will abide by the instructions and directions of the honorable court. We uphold the dignity of the court. We sincerely follow the directions of the competent court/authorities concerned. Patanjali Ayurved Limited, Balakrishna, Swami Ramdev, Haridwar, Uttarakhand,” the apology mentioned.
The advertisement published yesterday was short and did not specifically mention the names of Ramdev and Balakrishna.
A bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice A Amanullah, hearing the case, asked whether the apology was published in the newspaper in the same size as your advertisement.
“Cut out the apology you gave in the newspaper and keep it to yourself. Enlarge it and photocopy it. It cannot please us. I want to see the actual size of the advertisement,” said Justice Hima Kohli.
The next hearing in the case will be held on April 30 and Ramdev and Balakrishna have been asked to appear before the court.
