India, Nov. 11 -- The fundamental right to commercial speech does not cover the dissemination of falsehoods or grant any licence to defame, disparage, or denigrate a competitor, the Delhi high court has held, as it directed Patanjali to take down in 72 hours its Chyawanprash commercial branding rival products as "dhokha (deception)".

A bench of Justice Tejas Karia said an advertisement loses constitutional protection the moment it becomes false, misleading, unfair, or deceptive. It added Patanjali's Chyawanprash commercial crossed this line by conveying that all other manufacturers were deceiving consumers.

The 37-page order said that branding all competing Chyawanprash products as "dhoka" amounted to commercial disparagement. "A perusa...