The Delhi high court on Thursday asked Patanjali Ayurved how it can call other chyawanprash products as dhoka, which means "fraud" and deception.
The high court said yoga guru Ramdev's Patanjali needs to consider using any other word in its advertisements and while comparison between his product and that of others is allowed, disparaging other products is not permitted.
The court reserved its order on a plea by Dabur India seeking an interim injunction against Patanjali's "disparaging" advertisement.
"You can claim that you are the best but you cannot call others 'dhoka' which, in the English dictionary' means fraud and deception," Justice Tejas Karia orally said.
The counsel for Patanjali claimed that by the word dhoka, Ramdev means 'ordinary'.
"I am saying all others are sadharan - ordinary chyawanprash. The meaning it conveys is that I am saying all others are ineffective."
"This is an extension of the last advertisement. When I say dhoka, I mean to say that I am special and others are ordinary," senior advocate Rajiv Nayar, representing Patanjali Ayurved, said.
The court was hearing a plea by Dabur India, which is aggrieved by the 25-second advertisement issued by Patanjali titled "51 herbs. 1 truth. Patanjali Chyawanprash!"
In Patanjali's advertisement, a woman is seen feeding chyawanprash to her kid, saying Chalo dhoka khao. Thereafter, Ramdev says adhikansh log Chyawanprash ke naam par dhoka kha rahe hain.
Senior advocate Sandeep Sethi, appearing for Dabur India, alleged that Ramdev was trying to create a communal divide only to sell his products.
"Chyawanprash, as a class of goods, is being termed as deceptive. They are referring to the entire gamut of chyawanprash manufacturers and sellers and I am the market leader of chyawanprash. It is all being done to create panic," he said.
Sethi added that Patanjali's advertisement says "why settle with 40 herbs," and Dabur identifies itself with chyawanprash made of 40 herbs, so they are referring to it here.
He said words "dhoka khao" amount to consuming fraudulent products, and such words were ex facie disparaging as Dabur is more than 60 percent market holder of chyawanprash.
"Coming from a self-proclaimed yoga guru is far more serious. People seek to identify a yoga guru with some sense of truthfulness," Sethi said.
During the hearing, the court asked whether calling other chyawanprash products ordinary or inferior is permitted, but will calling them as dhoka not amount to disparaging?
"Ordinary or special and dhoka is different. Here, the question is, you are calling all other chyawanprash other than you as dhoka. Dhoka is a negative word. The word in English means fraud," Justice Karia told Patanjali's lawyer.
Nayar, however, said that by using this word, Patanjali is not saying that other products are fake or spurious; it was saying that they are bad and ineffective as compared to its chyawanprash.
"I have not referred to him at all. All I am saying is that apart from me, all other chyawanprash are ineffective. Puffery is admitted. When a product is not targeted, an injunction never follows," he said.
Earlier in July, another judge of the high court had allowed the interim applications of Dabur India Limited against Patanjali's advertisements and directed the latter to delete the first two lines of an advertisement -- "Why settle for ordinary Chyawanprash made with 40 herbs?"
The single judge had directed Patanjali to delete the offending portion, the order which was later challenged before the division bench.
The division bench also directed Patanjali to remove the offending portion.