‘Sharbat jihad’: HC pulls up Patanjali, says ‘can’t believe eyes and ears’

When the case first came up in the court Tuesday morning, Justice Bansal observed: “This is shocking. Shocking. It shocks the conscience of the court. Please take instructions immediately. This is indefensible according to me. Take instructions, otherwise there will be a strong order.”

Hamdard, through its charity wing Hamdard National Foundation India, has moved a suit claiming trademark infringement and disparagement, as well as defamation against Patanjali Foods Limited and Baba Ramdev, citing a video that showed Ramdev claiming that his competitor’s profits were used “for building masjids and madrasas.” Profits from Patanjali’s “rose sharbat”, he said, go towards building “gurukuls, acharyakulams and Patanjali University”. “Jaise love jihad, vote jihad chal raha hai naa, waise sharbat jihad bhi chal raha hai (Like there is love jihad and vote jihad, there is sharbat jihad),” Ramdev added.

Hamdard, in its suit, is also seeking a permanent injunction restraining Patanjali from infringing and disparaging its trademark, damages upto Rs 2 crores, as well as seeking an apology and retraction. It is also seeking the court’s direction to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to take down the links of the objectionable material.

Appearing for Hamdard, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi Tuesday read out tweets and the content of the video, where Ramdev allegedly makes a reference to Rooh Afza.

Rohatgi added: “Hamdard requires no elaboration… We have all grown up with Rooh Afza. This is a case which is shocking, this goes beyond disparagement, it goes beyond normal cases. This is a case creating communal divide, it is akin to hate speech. This is commercial speech and will not have protection under the law of defamation… You cannot go about branding whatever you want… He says ‘sharbat jihad’. Jihad is a war in the name of religion, so you are attacking my religion, because it is well known that Hamdard belongs to people of the Muslim community.”

He added that Hamdard had been in Delhi since 1906. “They have a college, university… This should not be allowed even for a moment… We have enough problems in this country.”

When the case came up again at noon, Patanjali’s advocate told the court that the videos will be pulled down.

To Justice Bansal’s observation that “I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears”, Nayar said Patanjali was “not against any religion”. He also tried to argue that Ramdev could not be stopped from speaking if it is his “opinion”. However, Justice Bansal shot this down, saying: “He can hold these opinions in his head, but he can’t express them.”

The court then directed Ramdev to file an affidavit within five days undertaking that he shall not issue any such statements, advertisements or social media posts in the future.

The case will be heard next on May 1.

Incidentally, Rohatgi had in 2024 appeared for Patanjali when the Supreme Court initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against the yoga guru for issuing “misleading advertisements” and passing critical remarks about allopathy. This was after Ramdev and Patanjali’s Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna had given an undertaking to the Court in 2023 that they shall not publish advertisements disparaging modern medicine.