I'll let you decide if it was a publicity stunt: Juhi Chawla responds to 5G row

Ever since Bollywood ActorJuhi Chawla filed a petition challenging the 5G rollout in the country, many have been claiming it to be ‘a publicity stunt’. Posting a video on her social media on Monday, Chawla responded to the allegations.

After the online hearing of her case in June, the Delhi High Court had dismissed her petition and imposed Rs 20 lakh fine for the 'frivolous' plea.

The hearing was interrupted by Juhi’s fans after she shared the link to the Court hearing on her social media. The Court said, "It appears the suit was for publicity. Juhi Chawla circulated a link of the hearing on social media."

After almost two months, the Bollywood actor-turned-activist posted an almost 15-minute-long video on her social media and wrote, "I'll let you decide if it was a publicity stunt."

Chawla started the video talking about how 11 years ago she got concerned about the ill-effects of the radiation for the first time when she saw 14 mobile towers getting installed right in front of her Mumbai house.

Later the actor got a private agency, based in Hyderabad, to conduct a test on the radiation from the mobile towers in her house and found out that it was on an alarming level. After which she took the legal route to get the towers removed.

Following the news, she started getting requests from people around the country to help them remove mobile towers near their houses and she started helping people, she said.

In the video, the actor said that she has taken many steps to enquire about the measures taken by the government on the issue in these 11 years.

She said, “I have filed several RTIs to enquire about any research that has been conducted by the government on the harmful effects of these radiations on men, women, adults, children, animals and every type of living organism.”

According to Chawla, ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) replied to her saying it was conducting a study on the effects of radiofrequency 2G and 3G phone towers, but Science and Engineering Research Board said that no such study has been conducted.