The Delhi high court on 2nd June termed the petition filed by Juhi Chawla against the rollout of 5G technology in India as “defective” and done for “media publicity”. Describing Juhi’s move as “very shocking”, Justice J.R. Midha wondered why the actress had not made a representation to the government before rushing to the court. The judge reserved the order on the plea.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Central government, described the suit as frivolous. He explained that 5G policy did not fall in the category of public nuisance and it was, obviously, not prohibited in law. He added that the petitioner needed to show how the technology was wrongful and termed the suit “an ill-conceived litigation”.
In her petition, Juhi 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 rollout in the country. The petition 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.
The plea 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. It 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 rollout in April 2019 on account of recognised health hazards.
It may be mentioned here that a man joined the virtual hearing and started to sing a song from Juhi’s Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke. After he was removed, he logged in again under a different name and sang another song. He was removed once again. Undeterred, he joined under yet another name and started singing a song from Juhi starrer Aaina. He was removed over again. The judge asked the court master to contact the Delhi police and request them to identify the person so that contempt proceedings could be started against him for his conduct.
Juhi Chawla had, a day before the court hearing, tweeted to her followers to join the online court proceedings.