Patanjali case: IMA tells Supreme Court it has published full-page apologies for its President's comments

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that it has published full-page apologies for comments made by its President Dr. RV Asokan against the Court. .A Bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Sandeep Mehta was told that these apologies were published on the IMA's website and its monthly publication, apart from newspapers. "IMA has a monthly publication and a full page ad says that it expresses regret and furnished an unconditional apology by making such statements to the press. If the IMA website is opened, there is a pop up of this apology and PTI also published it along with economic times etc.," Senior Advocate PS Patwalia told the Bench today on behalf of the association. The IMA President had made comments against the Court after the Court criticised the IMA during hearings in the Patanjali misleading ads case..The case before the Supreme Court was filed by the IMA against Patanjali Ayurved and its promoters, Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna, for publishing misleading advertisements targeted at allopathic medicine. The IMA accused Patanjali of running a smear campaign against modern medicine. The hearings in the matter saw the Court pass several strong strictures against Patanjali. However, on April 23, the Court also told the IMA to put its own house in order and address unethical practices in modern medicine.In comments made subsequently to the press, Dr. Asokan was reported to have said that it was "unfortunate" that the Supreme Court criticised the IMA and that doctors were demoralised due to the same.The Bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah had taken strong exception to this statement. Although Dr. Asokan apologised for his comment, the Court was not convinced by the apology right away."Why you did not give a public apology? Everything was written in black and white, why did you not make amends if you truly wanted to apologise? You could have gone to the same agency (PTI) and said what you are saying on affidavit now...What did you do to redeem yourself after the interview? Tell us," the Bench had remarked during a May 14 hearing. In response, the IMA has now published public apologies. The Court today proceeded to take this submission (part of an affidavit) on record, before adjourning the hearing. .Supreme Court asks Patanjali whether its misleading ads have been taken down from social media platforms.Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.