'Can Affect Ties': Delhi HC on Baba Ramdev's Comments on Biden, COVID Vaccines

Ramdev had said that US President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 despite being inoculated.

Baba Ramdev.

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Baba Ramdev) 

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday, 17 August, questioned Baba Ramdev for casting aspersions on vaccines against COVID-19 by saying that the United States (US) President Joe Biden tested positive for the virus despite being inoculated.

A bench led by Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani said that such comments could affect India's relations with other countries and also bring a bad reputation to Ayurveda.

"One, I am concerned about the good name of ayurveda not being destroyed. It is a recognised, respected and ancient system of medicine. The second is that people are being named here. It can affect our country’s relations with other countries. World leaders are being named which will affect our good relations with them," Justice Bhambhani said, as per Bar and Bench.

Ramdev's Criticism of Modern Medicine

The judge's comments came after senior advocate Akhil Sibal informed the court on 4 August that the yoga guru had issued a statement in Uttarakhand's Haridwar saying that Biden tested positive for the virus for the third time despite being vaccinated.

In a video of the incident, Ramdev purportedly says that the fact that the US president tested positive multiple times showcases the failure of medical science which, according to him, has been destroying the world.

"They are still in infancy. I don’t want to criticise kids. Medical science is not even 200 years old. They have only been destroying the world for 50 years," Ramdev said.

The high court was hearing a plea lodged by doctors alleging that Ramdev's comments had led to public nuisance and misrepresentation of modern medicine and that his intention was to promote his own tablet against COVID-19, called Coronil.

During the last hearing, the judge had given both sides time to resolve the matter and ordered Ramdev to give a better clarification regarding claims made about his tablet.

'Ramdev Must Come Clean on Coronil': Lawyer

Senior advocate PV Kapur, who was representing Ramdev, said that they had come up with a draft that addresses the concerns of the doctors. However, Sibal said that the draft was misleading.

He argued that Patanjali's website still states that Coronil is a treatment for COVID-19 and is backed by research.

“If they have to come clean and want to fairly withdraw what they have done, they need to do two things. They have to not only inform about the limited nature in which it can be used but also positively inform what it can’t be used for. They have to say it is not a cure, medicine or treatment. We have to tell the public that. Because at the moment they have been told a very different thing,” he said, as per Bar and Bench.

"They have to say that it is not intended as a substitute in any manner. This is only a supporting measure. According to the license issue to them, it was always intended as a supporting measure for asymptomatic and mild cases," the lawyer added.

(With inputs from Bar and Bench.)