Posted by New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday asked Yoga guru Ramdev to implead all the complainants, who have filed cases against him over his alleged remarks on allopathic medicines during the COVID-19 pandemic, as a party in his plea seeking a stay of criminal proceedings against him.
Apex court granted Ramdev liberty to implead complainants
A bench comprising Justice MM Sundresh and Justice PB Varale told Ramdev that he needed to implead all the complainants in his plea for securing relief in the matter and granted the Yoga guru liberty to implead the complainants.
Ramdev has impleaded Centre, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, IMA as parties
Ramdev, in his plea seeking stay of criminal proceedings against him, has impleaded the Centre, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and the Indian Medical Association (IMA) as parties.
The bench posted Ramdev’s plea for further hearing after the summer vacations of the Supreme Court.
The top court, while hearing Ramdev’s plea on October 9 last year, had issued notices to Centre, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and the IMA.
Ramdev’s counsel had earlier told the top court that he had made a statement that he does not believe in allopathic medicines in 2021 to which some doctors took offence and they lodged multiple cases against him and sought a stay on investigation on the criminal complaints as an interim relief.
Patna, Raipur chapters of IMA lodged complaints against Ramdev over his remarks on allopathic medicines
The Patna and Raipur chapters of the IMA have lodged complaints against Ramdev’s remarks against allopathic medicines in 2021 alleging that his remarks were likely to cause prejudice to COVID-19 control mechanism and may dissuade people from availing proper treatment. Ramdev has been booked under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Disaster Management Act, 2005 on the complaints of IMA in Bihar and Chhattisgarh.
The Yoga guru had later withdrawn his statement on allopathic medicines after then Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan called his remarks over allopathic medicines “Inappropriate”.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Medical Association (DMA), which has 15,000 doctors as members, has sought permission from the court to become a party to the case, alleging that the remarks made by Ramdev insulted Allopathy and “instigated” people to disregard vaccines and treatment protocols.