History made as SC orders closure of mobile tower on cancer patient's plea

The order vindicates the stand taken by activists about the harmful rays that are generated by mobile towers.

A domestic help from Gwalior got justice before the Supreme Court after his plea to shut down a mobile tower on the ground that he got cancer because of it was allowed. Harish Chand Tiwari moved a petition in the Supreme Court stating that the electromagnetic radiation from the tower afflicted him with cancer.

He said that a BSNL tower was illegally installed at the house of a neighbour in 2002., This exposed him to harmful radiation, he said. The radiation from the tower which is less than 50 metres from the house where he works afflicted him with Hodgkin's Lymphoma caused by continuous and prolonged exposure to radiation, he stated in his petition.

The court while seeing reason with his petition ordered that the tower be de-activated within seven days. Incidentally this is the first time that a tower is being shut down on a petition by an individual. The order vindicates the stand taken by activists about the harmful rays. The government had however contended that there was no evidence to show that mobile towers generate harmful radiation.

The order could set a precedent. Activists have been complaining for long that no checks and balances are in place while installing mobile towers. The radiation that it generates has also affected nature badly and is one of the primary reasons for several birds to vanish.

OneIndia News