Pune: A petition was filed before the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) in Junnar court, against Ramdev Baba and Acharya Balkrishna. They allegedly made a misleading claim in a press conference that a person with coronavirus would be completely cured if they consumed the drug prepared by Patanjali.
The incident came to light after Madan Kurhe, moved a private complaint petition in the court of JMFC, allegedly claiming that it is illegal and fraudulent to make the drug available for sale without completing any medico-legal process, which is sanctioned and approved by the expert authority.
This is the first petition filed in Maharashtra against Ramdev Baba's claim. The complaint has been filed by Madan Kurhe, a legal practitioner, through Advocate Asim Sarode.
Kurhe petition claims, "Without any clinical trials and without any permission from the ICMR and the Ministry of AYUSH, Ramdev Baba's actions in bringing drugs directly into the market for sale, without proving the usefulness of the drugs from a scientific point of view, he considers himself above the law."
Speaking to Sakal Times, lawyer Sarode said, "A petition has been moved under the relevant sections of Indian Penal Code comprises of cheating (420), criminal conspiracy (120B), Malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life (270), provoking a breach of the peace (504) and an act done by them with common intention. As well as we have also invoked additional sections under The Drugs and Magic Remedies (Offensive Advertising) Act, 1954, Act prohibiting the spread of disease, in accordance with the Disaster Management Act."
He added, "The complaint alleges that Baba Ramdev, Acharya Balkrishna and Patanjali, acted illegally in clear violation of the provisions of the notification. Ramdev Baba and Acharya Balkrishna are not unaware that our actions are illegal."
Adv Sudarshan Parkhe who is assisting in this case, said, "Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna have also disobeyed several guidelines issued by the Union Home Ministry dated March 24 this year, stating that they should not claim to have discovered drugs in the context of COVID-19, a guideline issued by the Ministry of Life on April 21. Therefore, we have prayed before the court that a notice should be issued against the two and appropriate legal action should be taken against them and if found guilty, they should be punished."
Complainant Kurhe added, "People have lost patients and ready to do anything to overcome this pandemic. But such people are making money out of people's emotions. I personally have seen my friends and others trying for such drugs but when I verified and researched about it, I found that it is violating the norm. Thus, this pandemic is of national importance and this case is just for a social justice issue so that people avoid such malpractices."
