Ahmedabad: Prominent associations representing doctors in Gujarat approached the Ahmedabad city police Monday. They sought registration of an FIR against yoga guru Ramdev for his alleged disparaging remarks against modern medicine and its practitioners. Senior doctors and office-bearers of the Gujarat unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and the Ahmedabad Medical Association (AMA) submitted separate applications to the Navrangpura police, seeking action against Ramdev, who is in the eye of a storm over his remarks on allopathy and vaccines.
They urged the police to lodge an FIR against Ramdev under relevant sections of the Epidemic Diseases Act and the Disaster Management Act (invoked in view of the Covid-19 pandemic).
Police said they have accepted the ‘memorandums’ from the doctors. “We have accepted the memorandums given by the IMA and the AMA. However, the issue they have raised is beyond our jurisdiction,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone-1, Ravindra Patel. No FIR will be lodged in the city, he informed.
In the application, the IMA alleged that Ramdev was trying to incite people against doctors by claiming that allopathy is a ‘stupid science’ and ‘lakhs of people died after consuming allopathy medicines’.
“Ramdev talked rubbish about modern medicine. He even said people need not take vaccine against coronavirus. If people do not take vaccine, it will be difficult to stop the third (coronavirus) wave. We want the police to take action against Ramdev for his comments,” said Dr Devendra Patel, president, IMA-Gujarat.
Dr Mona Desai, immediate past president, AMA, said at the time of a pandemic, Ramdev is ‘misguiding people’ and using ‘bad words’ for doctors who have served people by risking their own lives.
AMA president Kirit Gadhavi even sought pressing of sedition charges against Ramdev for ‘downplaying the importance of coronavirus vaccine’.
A few days ago, Ramdev was forced to withdraw a statement made in a viral video clip in which he is heard questioning some of the medicines being used to treat the coronavirus infection and saying that ‘lakhs have died from taking allopathic medicines for Covid-19’.
The IMA, the apex medical body of modern doctors, had served a defamation notice on Ramdev for his remarks.