New Delhi: Actress-environmentalist Juhi Chawla Monday approached the Delhi High Court against the setting up of 5G wireless networks in the country, raising issues related to the radiation impact on citizens, animals, flora and fauna.
The plea, which claims that these 5G plans threaten to provoke serious, irreversible effects on humans and permanent damage to the earth's ecosystems, came up for hearing before Justice C Hari Shankar who transferred the lawsuit to another bench for hearing on June 2.
The suit, filed by Chawla and two others, has said if the telecommunications industry's plans for 5G come to fruition, no person, animal, bird, insect and plant on earth will be able to avoid exposure, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to levels of RF radiation that are 10x to 100x times greater than what exists today.
The suit, filed through advocate Deepak Khosla, has sought a direction to the authorities to certify to the public at large that how 5G technology is safe to humans, animals and every type of living organism, flora and fauna.
This suit will reveal a complete sell-out by the regulatory agencies who, statutorily, have been tasked to protect the health and life of the public, but whose actions reveal an utter derogation of their own statutory duty in order to advance private interests..., the plea has alleged.
Since prevention' is well-accepted to be far better than cure', immediate measures must be taken to protect humanity and the environment, in accordance with ethical imperatives as well as formal international agreements, before such harm is actually unleashed, it said.
The plea said that in April 2019, Brussels became the first major city in the world to halt any further steps in the 5G rollout on account of health hazards.
In fact, as recently as on May 5, 2021 (that is, less than a week ago), the Parliament of Belgium, still not willing to allow 5G rollout in Brussels, invited 45 ordinary citizens drawn at random to address it on their concerns, assuring them that the 5G roll-out will not be permitted till they are heard by Parliament and their concerns are properly and fully addressed, it said.
It said the plaintiffs are not against the implementation of technological advancements and they are filing the suit with the sole intent to ensure that health and safety of citizens are preserved and not compromised at any cost, mainly due to the developments and advancements in the admittedly-untested field of advanced wireless communication, especially 5G.
The plea said that India has also entered the 5G race' in an effort to flaunt its advancements and achievements in the field of technology and digital communication.
It said the urge to compete in this race has somewhat distracted the nation from taking into consideration some alarming factors to the health of present and future generations.
The plea said it is not widely acknowledged that this will also result in unprecedented environmental change on a global scale because the harm from such frequencies is not just to human life but to everything at an atomic level.
In other words, in the case of 5G cellular telecommunication, what is being paved the way for is another health-disaster regulatory fiasco, very much like tobacco, asbestos, etcetera, where palpably-visible dangers by such products were being shouted literally from the rooftops, but repeatedly ignored by the regulatory agencies for decades altogether despite undeniable evidence laid on the table, until the protests had reached a deafening crescendo, it said.