HC disposes plea to remove Bachchan's voice from caller tune
The Delhi High Court has dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking the removal of Amitabh Bachchan's voice from the COVID-19 caller tune. The court stated that since Bachchan's voice has already been replaced from the caller tune, the plea has become invalid. For months, Bachchan had been the voice of the caller tune carrying basic information about the coronavirus. Here are more details.
What was the plea all about?
Earlier this month, a PIL was filed in the Delhi High Court seeking the removal of Bachchan's voice from the COVID-19 caller tune on the grounds that he and his family had themselves contracted the deadly disease in July last year. It also claimed the actor did not have a "clean history," and has not served the nation through social work.
The hearing on the matter was held today
The matter came up for hearing today. After hearing the said plea, filed by a petitioner named Rakesh, the Delhi HC disposed it off. A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh stated that the plea had become infructuous, since the earlier caller tune featuring Bachchan's voice has already been replaced with a new one.
New caller tune went live on January 15
The new caller tune, that has a female voice, urges citizens to follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi's slogan - "Dawaai bhi, kadaai bhi (Medicine and caution both)." The caller tune went live on January 15. It narrates, "The new year has brought a new ray of hope in the form of vaccines. Vaccines developed in India are safe, effective and will provide immunity (sic)."
India's vaccination drive began last week
On Saturday, January 16, India's massive vaccination drive against the novel coronavirus was started. On the first day of the program, over two lakh healthcare workers had received the vaccine shot at around 3,000 sites across the country. To note, India has thus far given approval to two COVID-19 vaccines - Covishield and the indigenously developed COVAXIN.
