With folded hands, Ramdev and Balkrishna apologize “in person,” but the Supreme Court states “you are not off the hook.”

The co-founders of Patanjali Ayurved, Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna, faced contempt of court proceedings for publishing “misleading” advertisements. On Tuesday, they unconditionally apologized in person to the Supreme Court, folding their hands, saying they were “not off the hook” but agreeing to take their apologies into consideration.

A bench made up of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah has requested that the two appear in person before it again on April 23. The bench had previously rejected their affidavits of “unconditional” apologies on April 10. The bench will then determine what to do next.

“We’re not promising to pardon you. We can’t ignore your past… We’ll give your apologies some thought. After speaking briefly with Ramdev and Balkrishna, the bench stated, “You are not so innocent that you were completely unaware of what was going on.” The co-founders of Patanjali Ayurveda had apologized to the court for their mistakes.

Senior attorney Mukul Rohatgi requested that the potential contestants issue a public apology in newspapers on behalf of the Yog guru and Patanjali Ayurved Managing Director Balkrishna.

Though the Bench dictated the decision, it was up to Ramdev and Balkrishna to either provide such a public apology or take other independent, unilateral actions to demonstrate their sincerity.

We’re not suggesting they’re off the hook just yet. The Bench informed Rohtagi, “We’ll determine what to do.

Ramdev attempted to defend his stance by pointing out that Patanjali Ayurveda had conducted extensive research, but the bench informed him that he had no authority to disparage allopathy or any other medical system.

The bench once objected to Balkrishna’s claim that Ramdev was unrelated to the issue, adding, “You are trying to justify it.”

As the Bench considered the Indian Medical Association’s petition to curb the purported smear campaign and derogatory ads against the COVID-19 vaccination campaign and contemporary medications, it had previously observed that the company appeared to have broken the November 21, 2023, undertaking that the Supreme Court had given it.

Ramdev had a news conference in Haridwar on November 22, 2023, and the firm published an advertisement on December 4, 2023, alleging that the November 21, 2023, undertaking had been broken.

On April 10, the Supreme Court rejected the “unconditional” apologies that Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna, the co-founders of Patanjali Ayurved, had submitted in response to the publication of “misleading” advertisements. The court claimed that the two had willfully disobeyed its orders and that they had only submitted an apology after being “caught on the wrong foot.”

“These affidavits are not acceptable to us. We refuse to acknowledge it or support it. We see it as a willful and intentional breach of the undertaking’s order from November 21, 2023, as well as a violation of the order itself.(We) do not believe that your writing, repeated many times in the document, unconditionally, will enough to appease this court. The Bench had informed Rohatgi that this was a purposeful breach of the directive.

“The recorded apologies are written down; they were taken off guard and realized their back was really against the wall. and having gone to town the same day after the order wherein your own counsel had made undertakings was passed, stating all kinds of things,” the Bench had said on April 10.

Justice Amanullah had said, “An apology tendered under duress of adverse orders is to be rejected outright.”

The top court also ordered two of the officials from Patanjali Ayurved and Divya Pharmacy to submit affidavits clarifying their actions, and chastised the Uttarakhand State Licensing Authority for its inactivity on their deceptive advertising. The Bench threatened the authorities, saying, “We will rip you apart,” making it clear that it would not be taking anything lightly.

Nonetheless, several retired judges disagreed with the Bench’s forceful remarks.