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SC notice on Baba Ramdev plea to club FIRs over Covid-19 allopathy comment
The FIRs lodged against Ramdev in Patna and Raipur have accused him of intentionally insulting doctors among other charges
The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from the Centre on a petition filed by Yoga guru Baba Ramdev to quash criminal cases lodged against him two years ago over his alleged derogatory remarks on allopathic cure for Covid-19.
Issuing notice to the Centre and the Indian Medical Association (IMA), the top court bench of justices AS Bopanna and MM Sundresh also asked states of Bihar and Chhattisgarh governments, where the criminal cases are registered, to respond to Ramdev’s plea to club the two cases for investigation and trial at a common place, preferably Delhi.
The bench asked Ramdev’s lawyer whether he would be seeking quashing of the criminal cases or their consolidation. “You cannot have both. If you want quashing of FIR, your remedy lies before a different forum,” the bench said.
Senior advocate Siddharth Dave appearing for Baba Ramdev gave past instances where the Supreme Court has allowed clubbing of FIRs. He further stated that his client can at best be accused of offending the doctors for not having belief in allopathy, but no offence can be made out of it. Moreover, Dave said that Ramdev had withdrawn his statement the next day.
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The FIRs lodged against him in Patna and Raipur have accused the yoga guru of multiple charges. These include intentionally causing insult to doctors with an intent to provoke breach of peace punishable with a maximum sentence of two years under Section 504 of Indian Penal Code (IPC), Section 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection), Section 188 (disobedience to order of a public servant) and other provisions under the Disaster Management Act.
The FIRs were filed in response to a video that circulated on social media where Ramdev advised his followers not to rely on allopathy for treating Covid-19. This statement was made in May 2021. The IMA served him a defamation notice of ₹1000 crore and demanded an apology. Later, Ramdev wrote a letter to the then Union health minister stating that he meant no ill-will as he had great regard for doctors.
Ramdev in his petition requested the top court to club the cases lodged against him in the two states and sought trial to be shifted to Delhi. His organization - Patanjali Yogpeeth, is already facing a suit filed by Delhi Medical Association in the Delhi High Court. The suit has sought a restraint order against Ramdev for falsely representing Patanjali’s Coronil kit as a cure for Covid-19 and spreading misinformation about modern medicine or allopathy.
For IMA, senior advocate PS Patwalia told the top court that the criminal cases pending in the two states cannot be transferred to Delhi as no criminal proceedings have been filed in the Capital. The IMA even filed an affidavit to refute all claims by the petitioner.
Dave wondered how IMA could file an affidavit in the absence of any notice being issued on the petition. Ramdev claimed in It was then the Court decided to issue notice to the Centre and concerned states, besides IMA.
