THE Delhi High Court Thursday issued summons to Baba Ramdev in a suit filed by the Delhi Medical Association seeking an injunction against him for his remarks against allopathy, vaccinations and doctors.
A single-judge bench of Justice C Hari Shankar passed an order to this effect after a lengthy hearing that lasted more than an hour.
The judge refused to grant an interim injunction against Ramdev since questions over the maintainability of the suit had been raised by the latter's lawyer. In fact, even the court wondered whether the suit was maintainable since the averments were premised on fact that Ramdev's acts were prejudicial to the public. As such, the provision of Section 91(1) of the CPC would be attracted which would require the permission of the AG or the leave of the court to maintain a suit.
The court also said he did not think that the practice of allopathy was so fragile that an injunction was required against a person speaking against it.
"Whether a particular science is fake or not is public opinion – you can't put fetters on them", Justice Shankar remarked. He said the suit appeared to be PIL masquerading as the former.
It also said any case founded on prayer for blocking statements has to be tested on the anvil of art 19(1)(a) [freedom of speech and expression].
Senior Advocate Rajiv Dutta, for the association, submitted that Ramdev had been falsely representing Coronil as a cure for COVID-19. He added Ramdev had been continuously making provocative statements against doctors and vaccinations.
"Ramdev is making a statement against vaccination. 80% of the population is poor. His statement will cause tremendous loss to the country", Dutta submitted.
Dutta also referred to video statements by Ramdev in which he allegedly could be heard saying that lakhs of people have died because of allopathic medicines given. "It is an insolvent science".
The court said Ramdev "doesn't have faith in allopathy. He believes everything can be cured by Yoga and Ayurveda. He may be right or wrong".
Dutta pressed for interim relief seeking a restraint on Ramdev from directly or indirectly publishing offending material and as well as an unconditional apology from him. He also sought a declaration from the court that Coronil isn't a cure for COVID-19.
The court refused to grant any interim relief after senior advocate Rajiv Nayyar for Baba Ramdev raised questions on the maintainability of the suit. In so far as the declaration that Coronil does not work as a cure for Covid19 was concerned, the court remarked, "how can court give such a declaration? It will require extensive study and research."
The court has also sent summons to Twitter, Youtube and the Aastha channel since the suit also seeks to remove content from these platforms.