Yoga guru and Patanjali founder Ramdev on Friday gave an undertaking before the Delhi High Court that he will remove all videos, advertisements, and social media posts disparaging Hamdard’s popular drink RoohAfza and will refrain from publishing any such material in the future.
The assurance came during the hearing of a suit filed by Hamdard Laboratories, which accused Ramdev and Patanjali of launching a defamatory campaign against RoohAfza. Senior advocate Rajiv Nayyar, appearing for Ramdev, informed Justice Amit Bansal that the undertaking, in compliance with the court’s April 22 order, would be submitted via affidavit during the day.
On April 22, the court had directed Ramdev to file an affidavit within five days, explicitly undertaking that he would not release any further statements or promotional content targeting competitor products, including Hamdard’s. Ramdev had also assured the bench that earlier videos containing the controversial “Sharbat Jihad” remark would be taken down immediately.
However, at Thursday’s hearing, Hamdard’s counsel, senior advocate Sandeep Sethi, alleged that Ramdev had since uploaded a fresh video repeating similar statements. The new video, Sethi said, insinuated that Hamdard’s profits were being funneled into building madrassas and masjids and claimed that while Hamdard trusted Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, Patanjali’s allegiance was to Lord Ram. The video had garnered nearly 90,000 views and over 22,000 comments.
Justice Bansal took serious note of the new content, observing, “The tone and tenor of the new video is exactly similar [to the earlier ones]. According to my seeing, of the video and the affidavit, both are non-compliant.” The judge further remarked that Ramdev appeared “not in control of anyone and lives in his own world.”
The court also pointed out that the affidavit filed by Ramdev had failed to meet the specific requirement laid out in paragraph 18 of the April 22 order — namely, a clear undertaking to refrain from making further disparaging remarks.
Sethi argued that the omission was deliberate and aimed at inciting communal division to influence consumer choice. “He consciously chooses not to comply with the order and comes up with a new video,” he said.
In response, Nayyar claimed Ramdev had complied with the directive, emphasizing that the affidavit stated he was a law-abiding citizen who respected all religions. He defended the new video under the right to free speech and asserted that it did not target Hamdard’s products specifically.
The court has scheduled the next hearing for May 9 and asked for the formal filing of the undertaking during the day.
