PIL in SC seeking removal of defamatory references on Ayurveda from Wikipedia

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Supreme Court to direct the Respondent the Ministry of Ayush and the Ministry of IT and Electronics to take necessary steps that compel Wikimedia Foundation to remove references from the articles regarding Ayurveda published on its website.

The PIL further sought direction to the respondent Ministry of Ayush to consider the representation dated October 2, 2021, sent by the petitioners.

The petitioner, Ayurvedic Medicine Manufacturers Organisation of India (AMMOI), is an association registered under the Travancore-Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Act, 1955 was established to find remedies to the common problems of manufacturers of Ayurvedic medicines. The Association was registered at Trichur, Kerala.

The petitioner organization, through its petition moved by advocates Shweta Garg, Robin Raju, Deepa Joseph and Blessan Mathews, has highlighted an article that is published about Ayurveda on Wikipedia as maligning, defamatory and biased.

"The contents of the matter shown on Wikipedia totally malign the natural system ofmedicine which has a history of more than 3,000 years and is widely respected and accepted the world over, " the petitioner said, pointing out the fact that the incumbent Government of India has also constituted a separate Ministry named AYUSH for Ayurveda and other alternative medicine systems.

The petition further stated that the Constitution of a separate ministry is an acknowledgment of this ancient stream of medicine, the petition said.

The petition said that the matter of concern for the petitioner is that the second line of the article published on Wikipedia, which is hosted by the Respondent Wikimedia Foundation, terms Ayurveda as a pseudoscientific, and needlessly at the start of the article cites the statement of Indian Medial Association that describes Ayurvedic practitioners as Quacks. The referred article has unnecessarily and purely with the intent to tarnish Ayurveda, the plea said.

"That the matter of concern is that this utterly absurd, poorly researched and prejudiced article pops up as the first article when Ayurveda is searched on Google, " The petition said.

"This article also affects the morale of the thousands of Ayurvedic practitioners in India and the World over. The article published does more harm to a natural system of medicine which has legacy and acceptance for thousands of years, " the petition said.

It reiterated that the contents of the article do harm to the hard-earned reputation of Ayurveda, built through sheer dedication and constant research over a substantial span of time.

"The said articles clearly overlook the fact that there are numerous Ayurvedic Medical colleges in the country where Millions have been invested and innumerable people visit for treatment, " the petition said.

( With inputs from ANI )