NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Friday disposed of a case against Yoga guru Ramdev after he assured the bench that no further disparaging comments would be made against Hamdard’s Rooh Afza. Justice Amit Bansal stated that the declarations made by Ramdev and Patanjali Foods Ltd in their affidavits would be binding on them, and accordingly, the court decreed the suit in favour of Hamdard National Foundation India.Earlier, the court had directed the removal of the contentious content posted online and had asked Ramdev and Patanjali to submit an undertaking.The order was passed while the court was hearing a lawsuit filed by Hamdard National Foundation India against Ramdev and Patanjali Foods Ltd over allegedly defamatory remarks.Hamdard alleged that during a promotion of Patanjali’s “gulab sharbat”, Ramdev had claimed that the revenue generated from Rooh Afza was being used to fund madrasas and mosques.On April 22, the court directed Ramdev and Patanjali to file an affidavit stating that they would “not issue any statements, social media posts or disparaging videos/advertisements in future similar to those which are subject matter of the present suit in respect of products of the competitors”.The court had taken strong exception to Ramdev’s use of the term “sharbat jihad” in reference to Rooh Afza, calling the remark indefensible and one that “shook its conscience”, leading Ramdev to promptly agree to remove the relevant videos and social media posts.Hamdard’s counsel informed the court that instead of complying with the court’s earlier order to take down the objectionable YouTube video, the defendants had merely made it private.In response, Ramdev’s lawyer said he had “great respect for the court” and that its directions would be duly followed.On May 1, following a warning by the court that it would consider contempt proceedings against Ramdev, his counsel assured that other objectionable content that had subsequently surfaced would also be removed within 24 hours.
