The virtual hearing for the case filed by actress and environmentalist Juhi Chawla against implementation of the 5G network in India was disrupted multiple times on Tuesday by unknown participants, who sang Bollywood songs from the actress’ movies during the hearing.
Juhi Chawla had shared the link to the online hearing that was conducted on WebEx, on her Twitter and Instagram handles.
At first, one of the anonymous participants was heard saying, “Where is Juhi mam. I can’t see Juhi mam (sic).”
Then, as soon as Juhi Chawla joined the hearing, the participants began singing songs like Meri Banno Ki Aayegi Baraat. They could also not be identified immediately since they had used fake usernames like ‘Manisha Koirala’ and ‘Jahnvi.’
Justice J R Midha, who was hearing the matter, initially asked the court staff to mute those disrupting the session. However, when the interruptions continued, the virtual courtroom ‘locked’ the meeting so that participants could not unmute themselves from their end.
Following this, when Solicitor General Tushar Mehta made his argument in favour of the 5G network, participants began using and sending emojis against him.
Justice Midha then ordered his staff to identify the persons responsible so that they could take action against them for contempt of court.
Meanwhile, the counsel representing Juhi also accused the defendants of causing these distractions. The counsel was quoted as saying, “I hope these are not distractions from the defendants.”
On the other hand, the Delhi High Court also criticised Juhi for not having approached the government first with her complaint and filing a case with the court straightaway. “You could have gone to the government asking for the same relief,” the court had reportedly told Juhi. Calling the lawsuit “very shocking,” the court also accused Juhi of doing this only for “media publicity.”
The Delhi High Court reserved its order after hearing arguments on technical issues and maintainability of the suit.