Delhi HC reserves order on doctors' plea against Ramdev over Coronil
New Delhi, May 21: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday reserved its order on a plea by several doctors’ associations against yoga exponent Ramdev over his alleged "unsubstantiated" claim about 'Coronil' being a "cure" for COVID-19 and not just an immunity booster.
The plea forms part of a 2021 lawsuit by doctors' associations against the yoga guru, his aide Acharya Balkrishna as well as Patanjali Ayurveda founded by Ramdev, and seeks an interim relief of removal of statements from various media platforms with respect to the claim.
According to the lawsuit, Ramdev made unsubstantiated claims about 'Coronil' being a cure for COVID-19, contrary to the licence granted to the drug for merely being an “immuno-booster”.
The senior counsel appearing for the plaintiffs also sought a direction to restrain the defendants from making further similar statements.
Ramdev's senior lawyer said he was bound by the undertaking given in the Supreme Court in the case concerning advertisements of Patanjali products, adding that he was willing to make a similar statement in the high court as well.
The plaintiffs' senior lawyer, however, urged the court to pass an order on the interim application stating that the undertaking before the apex court was with regard to not making "causal statements" that are not in compliance with the law.
Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani said the matter before him concerned "specific instances" and reserved the order.
Three Resident Doctors' Association of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences at Rishikesh, Patna and Bhubaneswar as well as Association of Resident Doctors, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh; Union of Resident Doctors of Punjab (URDP); Resident Doctors' Association, Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College, Meerut, and Telangana Junior Doctors' Association, Hyderabad had moved the high court in 2021 against Ramdev and others.
In their lawsuit filed through advocate Harshavardhan Kotla, the associations have submitted that the yoga guru, who is a highly influential person, was sowing doubts in the minds of the general public about the safety and efficacy of not only allopathic treatments but also COVID-19 vaccines.
They alleged that the "misinformation" campaign was nothing but an advertisement and marketing strategy to further the sales of the product sold by Ramdev, including 'Coronil', which he claimed to be an alternative treatment for COVID-19.
On October 27, 2021, the high court had issued summons to Ramdev and others on the lawsuit, saying it was not a frivolous matter and a case was “definitely” made out for its institution.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
