Short Bytes: A man from Gwalior could be the first man to convince the Supreme Court of India to shut down a mobile tower. 42-year-old Harish Chand Tiwari claimed that prolonged radiation from a BSNL tower led to his condition of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. The court has given BSNL 7 days deadline for deactivating the tower.
While the topic of the harmful effects of radiation from smartphones and cellular towers is still debatable, India’s Supreme Court has ordered cellphone operator BSNL to shut down a cell phone tower over the claims that its radiation gave a man cancer.According to media reports, Gwalior-based Harish Chand Tiwari, who works as a domestic help at the residence of Prakash Sharma, argued that the ‘illegally’ installed BSNL tower on neighbor’s roof–which was less than 50 meters from where he worked–exposed him to strong electromagnetic radiation.
As a result of 24×7 radiation for the last 14 years, Tiwari developed Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, he claims.
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A bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha ordered: “We direct that the particular mobile tower shall be deactivated by BSNL within seven days from today.”
The Supreme Court has asked the parties to submit more documents showing the harmful effects of cellphone towers on living beings.
However, in the past, the Government of India filed an affidavit and claimed that out of the 12 lakh (1.2 million) mobile towers in the country, only 212 were found exceeding radiation limits.
Speaking in Lok Sabha, Minister of Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad said that mobile towers don’t have harmful effects and India needs more towers to improve the connectivity. He further added and said that even WHO, after 30 years of study, hasn’t found any threats.
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