New Delhi [India]: Yoga guru Swami Ramdev has petitioned the Supreme Court seeking protection from criminal FIRs filed against him across various states regarding his comments on the efficacy of allopathy in treating the COVID-19 pandemic.
A bench comprising Justices AS Bopanna and MM Sundresh issued notices to the Central government and the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in response to Ramdev’s plea.
In his petition, Swami Ramdev has requested the consolidation of FIRs and the transfer of these cases to Delhi.
Additionally, the plea seeks a halt to the proceedings in multiple cases against Ramdev and protection from coercive actions related to FIRs filed by the IMA’s Patna and Raipur branches.
The aim is to have these FIRs transferred to Delhi for further examination.
Ramdev’s counsel argued that he is a public figure and expressed his viewpoint at a private event, asserting that Ayurveda is superior to allopathy.
The council emphasized that Ramdev has nothing against doctors and has the right to express his opinion regarding the effectiveness of various medical approaches, be it allopathy, homoeopathy, or Ayurveda.
The FIRs against Swami Ramdev have been filed under various sections, including Section 188 (disobedience to a public servant’s order), Section 269 (negligent acts likely to spread dangerous diseases), and Section 504 (intentional insult with the intent to provoke breach of the peace), among others, of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
The controversy erupted in 2021 when a video surfaced in which Ramdev allegedly disparaged allopathy, claiming that medicines such as Remdesivir and Fabiflu, approved by the Drugs Controller General of India, had failed to treat COVID-19 patients.
His comments sparked outrage, and the IMA subsequently issued a legal notice to him.
In response to the legal notice, an FIR was registered against Ramdev in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, based on a complaint filed by the local IMA unit.
The complaint alleged that Ramdev had propagated false information and made threatening statements on social media regarding medicines used by the medical community, the Government of India, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and other frontline organizations in the treatment of COVID-19.
The complaint highlighted several social media videos in which Ramdev had allegedly made misleading statements about these medicines.
