The Delhi High Court on Wednesday termed the petition filed by Bollywood actor Juhi Chawla against the roll-out of 5G technology in India as “defective” and done for “media publicity”.
Justice J.R. Medha also asked why the actor had moved the court directly without first giving any representation to the government. “It is a defective plaint. This suit has been filed only for media publicity and nothing more than that. It is very shocking,” the judge said while reserving the order on the plea.
Man sings Juhi Chawla’s songs, interrupts proceedings on her plea against 5G in High Court
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Central government, also said that the suit was frivolous. Mr. Mehta said 5G policy did not fall in the category of public nuisance and it was obviously not prohibited in law. He said the petitioner needed to show how the technology was wrongful and termed the suit “an ill-conceived litigation”.
The plea
The actor, in her plea, had sought a scientific study on any adverse effects of radio frequency radiation emitted by cellular telecommunications using 5G technology on “health, life, organ or limb of adult or child, or to flora and fauna” before its official roll-out in the country.
The petition has sought to direct the government, and the Science and Engineering Research Board in particular, to certify that deployment of 5G technology for cellular communications posed no reasonable risk or hazard.
It also urged the authorities to rope in the Indian Council of Medical Research, the Central Pollution Control Board and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to conduct their respective studies on the issue.
The plea cited the example of Brussels (Belgium), which it claimed became the first major city in the world to actually halt any further steps in 5G roll-out in April 2019 on account of recognised health hazards.
Songs sung
During the virtual hearing, an unidentified man who joined the proceedings started singing songs from Ms. Chawla’s movies.
The unidentified man first started singing ‘ Ghoonghat ki aad mein dilbar ka ’ from the actor’s hit movie Hum Hai Rahi Pyar Ke . He was then removed from the virtual hearing. He logged in again and started singing ‘ Lal lal hoton pe gori kiska naam hai ’. He was immediately removed from the hearing for the second time. He again joined the virtual hearing for the third time to sing ‘ Meri banno ki aayegi baraat ke dhol bajao ji ’ from the movie Aaina before he was removed.
At the beginning of the hearing, the unidentified man was heard saying, “Where is Juhi ma’am? I can’t see her.”
When the judge asked the court master to mute the him, he replied, “You want to mute me. Oh, really!”
Each time he joined the hearing with a different name (Azaan, Manisha Koirala and Janvi).
Ms. Chawla had on Tuesday evening tweeted to her followers to join the court proceedings.
Justice Midha asked the court master to contact Delhi Police and ask them to identify the person so that a contempt notice could be issued against him for his conduct.
