Misleading Ads: Supreme Court Warns States Of Contempt Action For Inaction

The Supreme Court issued a warning to states on Wednesday, threatening to initiate a contempt action for their inaction over complaints of misleading ads against modern medicine.

A division bench, led by Justice Abhay S Oka, remarked that the Delhi government's explanation that identifying offenders was challenging was "peculiar". The court also asked other states for the status reports for actions taken on the basis of complaints received.

The top court, thereafter, said that it would consider compliances by Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat and Jammu & Kashmir on Feb 10.

It also discharged RV Asokan, president of the Indian Medical Association, of contempt charges over his comments against the top court's observations in the misleading ads case.

In April, Asokan, in an interview with the Press Trust of India, remarked that it was "unfortunate" that the top court was criticising the IMA, as well as some of the practices of private doctors.

Asokan's remarks followed the court's criticism of the IMA, wherein it was stated that the association needed to address several complaints about unethical practices. At the time, the apex court took a strong exception to his comments and directed him to issue a public apology, which he eventually did.

The case began in November 2023, when the apex court issued a stern warning to Ramdev and his multinational conglomerate for downplaying the effects of modern medicine. Some of Patanjali's commercials claimed its medicines could cure a number of illnesses while simultaneously disparaging modern medicine.

The court had said that it would issue a hefty penalty for all those misleading advertisements that promise to cure diseases such as asthma, obesity, and the like.

At the time, Patanjali told the court that it would make sure that going forward, no casual statements claiming medicinal efficacy against any system of medicine would be released to the media in any form.

However, a day after the court's stern remarks, Patanjali came out with a media statement saying that it was not making any "false advertisements or propaganda" regarding its products and that it would not object if the top court were to impose a fine or "even give us a death sentence" if found making misleading claims.

This prompted the apex court to come down on Ramdev and his conglomerate with all guns blazing for openly flouting court orders.

The entire fiasco has also led the court to reprimand the Union government and various other authorities for their inaction on the wider issue of misleading advertisements for drugs and medicines.