Whether apology published in newspapers where interview was carried: SC asks IMA president
New Delhi, Aug 6: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Indian Medical Association (IMA) president R V Asokan whether his unconditional apology to the apex court over his "damaging" statements in an interview to PTI was published in all those newspapers which carried his interview.
In the interview to PTI, where he had answered queries about Patanjali Ayurved Ltd's misleading advertisements case, Asokan had said it was "unfortunate" that the Supreme Court criticised the association and also some of the practices of private doctors.
The court also observed that the apology needs to be published in the newspapers by Asokan personally and not from the funds of the IMA.
The top court is hearing a plea filed in 2022 by the IMA alleging a smear campaign by Patanjali against the Covid vaccination drive and modern systems of medicine.
On July 9, Asokan had told the apex court that his unconditional apology to the court was published in various publications.
The IMA's counsel had said that Asokan's unconditional apology was published in the association's monthly publication, on the IMA website, as also by PTI.
During the hearing on Tuesday, a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Sandeep Mehta told the IMA's counsel that the apology should have been published in all those newspapers where Asokan's interview was carried.
"Was it published in all those newspapers where your interview was published," the bench asked, adding that the IMA president was inviting trouble.
Senior advocate P S Patwalia, appearing for the IMA, told the bench that Asokan would take appropriate steps to purge himself of the contempt.
The bench has posted the matter for further hearing on August 27.
In an interaction with PTI editors on April 29 for its programme '@4 Parliament Street,' Asokan had said it was "unfortunate" that the apex court criticised the association and also some of the practices of private doctors.
Asokan was replying to a query about the Supreme Court's observations during a hearing on April 23, when it had said while it was pointing one finger at Patanjali, the remaining four fingers were pointed towards IMA.
During the hearing on May 14, the bench had posed some tough questions to Asokan over his "damaging" statements against the court in the interview and said, "You cannot sit on a couch giving an interview to the press and lampooning the court."
The court had then made it clear that it will not accept his affidavit tendering apology at that stage.
Expressing displeasure over Asokan's comments a day before the top court was slated to the hear the matter, it had sought his response on an application filed by Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, which had urged the court to take judicial notice of the statements made by him.
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LIVE | Election Results of five states 2026
New Delhi: The countdown has begun for the counting of votes for the Assembly elections in five states that have captured the attention of people across the country.
The counting of votes for the Assembly constituencies of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and the Union Territory of Puducherry will begin simultaneously at 8 am, and the fate of candidates in a total of 824 constituencies will be decided shortly.
The counting of postal ballots will take place first, followed by the counting of EVM votes in several rounds.
► AIADMK leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami is leading in Tamil Nadu’s Edappadi constituency
► In Puducherry, BJP is leading in 3 seats.
► In Assam, BJP is leading in 56 seats, while Congress is leading in 12 seats.
► Suvendhu Adhikari leads in both Bhabanipur and Nandigram
► West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee faces setback in Bhabanipur constituency
► Bhupen Borah, who recently left Congress and joined the BJP, is leading in Assam’s Bihpuria constituency
► Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma is leading in Jalukabari constituency
► BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari is leading in West Bengal’s Nandigram constituencyFive-state elections: Postal vote counting begins
► TMC, BJP lead in one seat each in West Bengal
► In Tamil Nadu, DMK leads in 3 constituencies, while TVK leads in 1
► UDF leads in 5 seats in Kerala, BJP in 1, LDF in 1
► BJP leads in 2 seats, AIUDF in 1 in Assam
► AINRC leads in 1 constituency in Puducherry
► TMC leads in 5 seats in West Bengal; Mamata Banerjee’s party maintains initial lead
► Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin leads in Kolathur
► BJP takes early lead in Assam
► Congress-led UDF leads in Kerala
► Tamil Nadu, TVK chief Vijay leads in the Perambur constituency, lags in Tiruchirappalli South
► BJP leads in 10 seats in Assam
► LDF candidate V.P.P. Mustafa leads in the Thrikkaripur Assembly constituency
► Out of 294 seats in West Bengal, BJP is leading in 14 seats, TMC in 12 seats, Congress in 2 seats
► Out of 234 seats in Tamil Nadu, DMK is leading in 15 seats, AIADMK is leading in 5 seats, TVK is leading in 2 seats
► Out of 126 seats in Assam, BJP is leading in 31 seats, Congress in 4 seats, AIUDF in 2 seats.
► Out of 30 seats in Puducherry, NRC+ is leading in 3 seats, Congress in 2 seats, TVK in 1 seat.
► Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury suffers a setback in theBerhampore constituency in West Bengal.
