Supreme Court tells Patanjali that apologies in newspapers for misleading ads must be big, visible

The apologies printed by Patanjali Ayurved in newspapers for misleading advertisements published in the past should be big and prominent the Supreme Court said on Tuesday. .A Bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah made the observation while dealing with the petition filed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) against an alleged smear campaign carried out by Patanjali and its founders against the COVID-19 vaccination drive and modern medicine..While Patanjali has now published printed apologies in 67 newspapers to express regret over their conduct, the Court today asked whether such apologies were prominent in size to be spotted easily. "Was it of the same size as your earlier ads?" Justice Kohli asked."No milord .. It costs a lot.. Lakhs of rupees," replied Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Patanjali Ayurved's founders, Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna.To examine the size of the apologies, the Bench ordered that copies of the printed apologies be submitted by Patanjali to the Court. "Please cut out the ads and then supply it to us. Do not enlarge them and supply it to us. We want to see the actual size. This is our direction... We want to see that when you issue an (apology) ad, it does not mean we have to see it by a microscope. It is not meant to be on papers, but also read," Justice Kohli said. .This aspect was incorporated in the Court's interim order today as well. "Counsel for proposed contemnors (Patanjali, Ramdev, Balkrishna) submit that apology was published in newspapers only yesterday which is an unqualified apology. The said ads are not on record. The same has been collated and will be supplied during the day and needful shall be done to supply it to the petitioners," the Court recorded. .Notably, the Court had earlier pulled up Patanjali Ayurved on finding that their advertisements were misleading and derogatory to modern medicine. Later, the Court also rebuked Patanjali, its co-founder Baba Ramdev and its Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna over the casual nature of apology affidavits filed before the Court in response to the Court's censure. During the last hearing, the Court had personally interacted with Ramdev and Balkrishna to gauge the genuineness of their apologies, while making it clear that they were not out of the woods yet.At the time, the duo assured the Court (through their counsel) that they would voluntarily take steps to prove the genuineness of their apology. In today's order, the Court also took note of a submission by Patanjali that additional ads be issued to further show its unqualified apology for its lapses.To read more on the hearing, click here.