THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A court in Ernakulam has directed Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna of Divya Pharmacy to be present in the court in cases filed by the Drugs Control Department. The Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Kakkanad issued two separate orders in connection with the illegal drug promotions.
The department accused both Ramdev and Acharya of violating Section 3(d) of Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act in these cases. The court issued summons to the accused in one case on January 30 and issued directions for the production of the accused in another case on February 17 next year. Besides, the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate in Thiruvananthapuram also issued notice to the same accused in another case filed by the department. The case is posted for November 21.
The Drugs Control Department has filed a total of 10 cases against Ramdev-promoted Divya Pharmacy for publishing misleading advertisements in various courts in Kozhikode (4 cases), Palakkad (3 cases), Ernakulam (2 cases) and Thiruvananthapuram (1 case).
The cases have been registered for violation of Section 3(d) of Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable advertisement) Act 1954. Under the law, cure of 54 diseases listed in the schedule should not be advertised.
The state’s drugs control department became the first drug licensing agency in the country to file a case against Patanjali Ayurved in a court for publishing misleading advertisements in April.
The department found that Patanjali’s Divya Pharmacy advertised pharmaceutical products for diseases, in which the cure should not be advertised, in more than 30 instances. The cases were initiated based on a complaint filed by Dr Babu K V, a health activist from Kannur.
