Baba Ramdev vs DMA: Yoga guru entitled to his opinion says Delhi HC

New Delhi, June 04: While refusing to restrain Yoga guru Baba Ramdev from making any statements against allopathy, the Delhi High Court said he was entitled to his opinion.

The court also issued summons and advised Ramdev not to speak about the efficacy of the modern medicine until the next hearing. However a single judge Bench of Justice C Hari Shankar refused to pass a restraining order without going through his formal reply on the matter.

The court said that considerable time has passed since the passing of the allegedly injurious statements. The court also added that the allopathic profession was not so fragile.

The Delhi Medical Association had filed a suit in the Delhi High Court against Ramdev. The plea sought a directive to Ramdev to restrict from disseminating false statements and information about the Coronil tablet.

Meanwhile, the residents of a town in north Bihar have sought that the Yoga guru be booked for sedition for his alleged disparaging remarks against modern medicine and its practitioners.

The petition was filed in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate by Gyan Prakash through his counsel Sudhir Kumar Ojha, himself a serial litigant who remains in the news for petitions against top politicians, Bollywood stars and foreign heads of state.

The petition filed before the court of Acting CJM Shailendra Rai here has dubbed Ramdev''s utterances as "fraudulent", and sought invoking of IPC sections pertaining to sedition and cheating besides the Disaster Management Act.

The matter will be taken up for hearing on June 7.
Ramdev, the founder of the Patanjali Group, is in the eye of the storm over uncharitable comments against the allopathic system of medicine, including coronavirus vaccines.

The Indian Medical Association has been up in arms against the yoga guru for denigrating the tireless services rendered by doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic to which many medical practitioners have also succumbed.

His known proximity with the BJP notwithstanding, Ramdev''s comments have been met with disapproval by many leaders of the party in power at the Centre.