On Tuesday, a criminal complaint has been filed against yoga guru Ramdev and Patanjali Ayurved MD Acharya Balkrishna, alleging them of misleding and risking the lives of lakhs of people by claiming to have developed a medicine to treat COVID-19.
The complaint has been filed by two Supreme Court Advocates, Ehtesham Hashmi and Ali Zaidi.
The complainants have sought initiation of criminal proceedings against the both accused under Section 54 of the National Disaster Management Act, 2005, Section 188, 505(1)(b) of the Indian Penal Code, Section 66(d) of IT Act and Section 4 of Drug and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements Act).
The complainants have contended that The Ministry of Home Affairs vide Order No. 40-3/2020-DM-II(A), dated 24th March 2020 and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) vide Order No. 1-29/2020-pp (Pt II) dated 24th March 2020 have issued instructions to all Central and State/UT Government Authorities under the provisions of Disaster Management Act, 2005 to take effective measures including making of false claim as punishable offence so as to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
They further described that The Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) by order dated 1st April 2020 in exercise of the powers of Central Government, conferred under Section 33 P of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, directed all concerned ASU&H Regulatory Authorities in the States/Union Territories to stop and prevent publicity and advertisement of AYUSH-related claims for COVID-19 treatment in print, TV and electronic media and take necessary action against the persons/agencies involved in contravening the relevant legal provisions and the aforesaid guidelines of National Disaster Management Act, 2005.
It was mentioned that while launching the product 'Coronil and Swasari', Patanjali Ayurved hasn't provided the details of the name and composition of the medicines. Being claimed for COVID Treatment, sites, hospitals of the research study and the result of the data, the sample has not been provided to the Ministry of AYUSH and the authorities, also details about the various protocol, research result data, registration, and clearance have not been provided by the Patanjali Ayurved and the above named accused persons.
The launch, they termed is nothing but a sheer act of monetizing the fear among the people with regards to COVID- 19 and taking advantage of the Pandemic by the above named accused persons, because it is claimed that the medicine can be taken as prevention for COVID-19, considering the cult following of the accused persons, the demand for the drug to soar up is likely and thus without proper clearance of the requisite authorities and clearance it will be act of jeopardizing the safety of the people.
They thus appealed that in light of all the irregularity and non-observance of the Ministries Guidelines by the above named accused it is of utmost urgency that the criminal proceeding should be initiated against the accused persons.
The complainants has named Ramdev, the convenor of the Patanjali Research Institute, and his aide Balkrishna, the organisation's chairman, as accused.
Earlier AYUSH Ministry said that the facts of the claim and details of the scientific study used to develop the drug are not known to it. It has sought from Patanjali a detailed report on composition, testing and other data of the drugs.
The Ministry also used powers under a 1954 law to ask the firm to "stop advertising/publicizing" claims of corona cure drug until the issue is examined by it. The Notice issued bars companies from advertising a cure without government approval. But it wasn't immediately clear if they can sell it.
Ramdev said the medicines have been developed by Patanjali Research Center, Haridwar and privately-owned National Institute of Medical Science, Jaipur following all protocols with clinically controlled trial-based evidence.
Copy has been sent to SSP Haridwar, DGP Haridwar & other police officials.
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