No Pakistani Rooh Afza in India: Indian High Court bans the product permanently

Delhi High Court in India has permanently restricted the e-commerce platform Amazon from adding the Pakistan-manufactured Rooh Afza to its platform and has restricted them from selling any products under the name of ‘Rooh Afza’’.

The high court in its Wednesday order said, “‘Rooh Afza’ is a product which has been consumed by the Indian public for more than a century now, and its quality standards have to comply with the applicable regulations prescribed by the Food Safety and Standards Act and Legal Metrology Act.” The court wondered how an imported product was being sold on Amazon without complete details about the manufacturer being disclosed.

“The listings of infringing ‘ROOH AFZA’ products on the website not originating from the Plaintiffs (Hamdard National Foundation) shall be removed within 48 hours,” said the court in its order.

The order dated September 5 also said that when one clicks on the link ‘Visit the Hamdard Store’, which is provided next to the product listing of Golden Leaf — the seller of imported Rooh Afza on Amazon – the consumer is taken to the webpage of Hamdard Laboratories India.

“Thus, any consumer or user on the platform is likely to confuse the ‘ROOH AFZA’ product originating from Hamdard Laboratories (Waqf), Pakistan as being connected or originating from the Plaintiffs..,” said the court.

The court instructed the e-commerce platform to submit an affidavit clarifying whether such details are mentioned on the Rooh Afza product listings, invoices, and product labels.