In the Patanjali case, IMA chief R.V. Ashokan wrote such an apology that the Supreme Court reprimanded him/her

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday criticized the format of the apology letter of Indian Medical Association (IMA) President R.V. Ashokan. Ashokan had made some comments about the Supreme Court in the Patanjali case, on which the Supreme Court expressed displeasure. After this, the court had directed Ashokan to publish the apology in the newspaper. Now the Supreme Court criticized that apology letter and said that the font of the apology letter is small and it is unreadable.

Supreme Court reprimanded on apology

A bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Sandeep Mehta directed senior advocate P.S. Patwalia, appearing for Ashokan, to provide copies of 20 editions of ‘The Hindu’ newspaper within a week in which his/her apology has been published. The court said that we will not believe until we see the advertisement in physical form, we are not shown the actual size… The portion of the apology filed before us is unclear because the font is small. The lawyer of the IMA president is directed to file physical copies of 20 publications of ‘The Hindu’ within a week where the apology has been published. Earlier on July 9, the IMA president had apologized unconditionally for his/her statements in the Supreme Court.

During the hearing on May 14, the bench had asked some tough questions to Ashokan about his/her ‘damaging’ statements against the court in an interview and said that you cannot do this by sitting comfortably on the sofa and giving interviews to the press and ridiculing the court. The court had then made it clear that it would not accept his/her affidavit of apology at that stage. Expressing displeasure over Ashokan’s comments a day before the apex court heard the case, the court had sought his/her response on an application filed by Patanjali Ayurveda Limited, urging the court to take judicial cognizance of the statements made by him/her.