Bollywood actress and environmentalist Juhi Chawla has moved the Delhi High Court seeking restraints upon the Union Government from taking any steps for the roll-out of 5G telecommunication services in the country, including, but not limited to steps for spectrum allocation, licensing, etc on grounds of long and short term harm to human, animal and plant life and detrimental impact on the environment at large.
In a 5000-page civil suit filed by the actress alongwith other individual petitioners, Chawla has arrayed 33 parties as defendants including the Science and Engineering Research Board, the Ministry of Communications, the Ministry of Electronics and Information, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, the Indian Council of Medical Research, certain universities and the World Health Organization.
Citing the Precautionary Principle of environmental law, the petition states that by virtue of the principle the burden of proof against the health hazards of 5G technology is on the defendants.
Placing reliance on several studies, researches and media articles, the petition has vehemently argued against the roll-out of the technology on grounds of severe biomagnetic pollution.
Citing the example of the Belgian Parliament where the roll-out of the technology was halted back in 2019, with the Minister of Health stating that,
"The people of Brussels are not guinea pigs whose health I can sell at a profit," the petition goes on to elaborate the Belgian model where 45 citizens were asked to address their concerns on the technology in the Parliament recently.
It is also highlighted that the risk of potential health hazard is so large that "re-insurance companies in the West (Lloyds of London, Swiss RE, etc) – operating in USA, UK, Canada, etc - have refused – and since 2001 - to cover the risk of cellular telecommunications providers against lawsuits relating even to injury caused by radiation, much less death."
The petition argues that that being so, "the risk in 2021, when presented with the intensity of radiation of 5G technology, which is more than 100x that which was prevailing under 2G technology 20 years ago, in 2001."
