Delhi High Court’s virtual hearing of a plea filed by actor Juhi Chawla against the rollout of 5G technology was disrupted three times on Wednesday, as an unidentified person kept singing songs from her movies during the proceedings, Bar and Bench reported.
Justice JR Midha, who was hearing the case, eventually directed the court staff to mute the individual’s online feed and directed issuance of contempt proceedings against him.
As proceedings started on Wednesday, the person first said, “Where is Juhi ma’am, I can’t see Juhi ma’am”, Live Law reported. Soon after Chawla joined the virtual hearing, the individual started humming “Ghoonghat ki aad se Dilbar ka...” a popular Bollywood song from the actor’s 1993 movie Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke.
As the individual could not be identified, Midha asked to mute the audio feed. Meanwhile, Advocate Deepak Khosla, appearing for Chawla, said, “I hope these are not distractions from the defendants”.
The person, however, kept singing other songs from Chawla’s movies, like, “Laal laal hoton pe gori kiska naam hai” and “Meri banno ki ayegi baarat”, the Hindustan Times reported.
Midha then got agitated and said, “Please identify the person and issue a contempt notice.”
He also directed the information technology department of the High Court to identify the person and let the Delhi Police know about his details, for necessary action.
Incidentally, Chawla herself had posted the link to the virtual hearing on her social media on Tuesday.
On Monday, Chawla had moved the Delhi High Court against the proposed setting up of 5G wireless networks in India, arguing that the technology’s rollout must not be allowed unless it is certified to be safe. She claimed that if 5G technology is rolled out, no human being, animal, bird or plant will be able to avoid exposure to radiation 10 to 100 times higher than the existing levels.
However, according to the World Health Organization, no adverse health effects have been causally linked to exposure to wireless technologies so far. “Health-related conclusions are drawn from studies performed across the entire radio spectrum but, so far, only a few studies have been carried out at the frequencies to be used by 5G,” it said in February 2020.
In Wednesday’s hearing, the court told Chawla that she should have approached the government first, before moving the court. It said that the petition was filed only for “media publicity”, The Indian Express reported. The court has reserved its order on the matter.
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