'You can't sit on a couch and...': Supreme Court Raps IMA Chief in Misleading Ads Case

New Delhi: Emphasising 'self-restraint' in speech, the Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the Indian Medical Association (IMA) president Dr RV Asokan for his comments on the apex court's ruling during a recent interview in the misleading ads case against Patanjali Ayurved. "We would have expected more sense of responsibility from you... you can't vent your feelings against the court in the press like this. What made you go suddenly like this?" a bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice A Amanullah asked Asokan.

Responding to Asokan's unconditional apology, Justice Kohli replied, "Whether we should accept your statements after such damaging statements, you are the one who dragged the other side to the court, saying they are denigrating you, but when you are put to test...?"

 "We are the first ones to uphold the freedom of free speech. But there are times when there should be self-restraint. As IMA President, you should have had self-restraint. We didn't see that in your interviews," the bar and bench quoted the SC as saying. 

Justice Kohli stated that Dr. Asokan's actions must be addressed with the same scrutiny as those of Patanjali. For the unversed, the Court had dismissed apologies from Patanjali and its founders for breaching a commitment made to the Court. "Dr Asokan, you are also a citizen of this country. The amount of criticism judges face, why don't they react? Because personally, we don't have much of an ego, we are magnanimous. We are entitled to take action, but very rarely we do," Justice Amanullah added.  

The court further questioned the nature of Asokan's apology, asking why he did not issue a public apology prior to appearing in court., “Everything was written in black and white, why did you not make amends if you truly wanted to apologise? What did you do to redeem yourself after the interview? Tell us” the bench asked.