The Delhi High Court on Thursday questioned Patanjali Ayurved over its branding of rival chyawanprash brands as ‘dhoka’, meaning fraud or deception, and asked how the company could justify such a claim.
The Supreme Court said yoga guru Ramdev’s Patanjali must consider using any other word in its advertisements and while comparison between its product and that of others is allowed, disparagement of other products is not allowed, PTI reported.
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The court reserved its order on Dabur India’s plea seeking an interim injunction against Patanjali’s “defamatory” advertisement.
Here is what the Court said
“You can claim to be the best, but you cannot call others ‘dhoka’, which in the English dictionary means fraud and deceit,” Justice Tejas Karia said orally.
Patanjali’s counsel argued that by the word “dhoka” Ramdev meant “ordinary”.
“I say that all others are ‘sadharan’ – ordinary chyawanprash. It means that I am saying that all others are ineffective.”
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“This is an extension of the last ad. When I say dhoka, I mean I am special and others are ordinary,” said senior advocate Rajiv Nayar representing Patanjali Ayurved.
The court heard a suit by Dabur India, which is damaged by a 25-second advertisement released by Patanjali titled “51 Herbs. 1 Truth. Patanjali Chyawanprash!”
In the Patanjali ad, a woman is seen feeding chyawanprash to her child saying “Chalo dhoka khao”. Then Ramdev says “Adhikanshas are cheating in the name of Chyawanprash”.
Check out the ad here:
Senior advocate Sandeep Sethi, appearing for Dabur India, argued that Ramdev was trying to create a communal divide only to sell his products.
“Chyawanprash as a class of goods is said to be deceptive. There is a whole range of chyawanprash manufacturers and sellers involved and I am the leader in the chyawanprash market. Everything is being done to create panic,” he said.
Sethi added that Patanjali’s ad says “why settle for 40 herbs” and Dabur identifies with chyawanprash made from 40 herbs, so they are referring to that here.
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He said that the words “dhoka khao” constituted consumption of fraudulent products and such words were ex-facie disparaging as Dabur holds more than 60% market share of chyawanprash.
“Coming from a self-proclaimed yoga guru is much more serious. People try to identify a yoga guru with some sense of truthfulness,” Sethi said.
During the hearing, the court asked, while other chyawanprash products are allowed as common or inferior, will it not call “dhoka” contempt?
“Ordinary or special and dhoka is different. The question here is whether you call all other chyawanprash except you as dhoka. Dhoka is a negative word. That word in English means fraud,” Justice Karia told Patanjali’s lawyer.
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However, by using this word, Nayar said that Patanjali is not saying that other products are fake or bogus, he said that they are bad and ineffective compared to his chyawanprash.
“I didn’t mention him at all. I’m just saying that except for me, all other chyawanprash are ineffective. Inflating is allowed. When the product is not targeted, the command never follows,” he said.
Earlier in July, another high court judge allowed Dabur India Limited’s interim applications against Patanjali’s ads and ordered it to delete the first two lines of the ad — “Why settle for plain Chyawanprash made with 40 herbs?
The single judge ordered Patanjali to delete the offending portion, an order that was later challenged before a division bench.
The division bench also directed Patanjali to remove the objectionable portion.
