Two Indians have requested an urgent court hearing after filing a public interest litigation (PIL) before the Delhi High Court to ban a caller tune that's played during the first 30 seconds of all mobile phone calls in India.
The pre-recorded message, voiced by veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan, was made to raise awareness about COVID-19 safety measures.
The petitioners – A K Dubey and Pawan Kumar – stated that "the PIL has been filed for all the persons who are taxpayers and who are disturbed by such caller tune."
"The ground of urgency is that the caller tune is harassing the people, especially the voice of Amitabh Bachchan," the petition states. It further claims that the government has selected the wrong actor to voice the message because Bachchan doesn't have a "clean history," nor has he served India through "social work."
"Amitabh Bachchan himself was affected by COVID while others in his family tested positive too," the petitioners wrote in their plea.
The petition adds that there are many people who are devoting their time and services to helping India's poor during the pandemic by proving food, clothes, and shelter; Dubey and Kumar believe one of these people should have voiced the message instead.
"Some famous corona warriors are still ready to give their services without any payment and are ready to serve the nation," the petition reads. It also claims Bachchan was paid a healthy sum by the government for his time.
Following the request by the counsel, the court has set 18 January as the hearing date.
In July, Bollywood megastar Bachchan, along with his son Abhishek, were admitted to a hospital in Mumbai after testing positive for COVID-19.
India has recorded 20,346 positive coronavirus tests in the last 24 hours as the overall number of cases in the country passed 10.04 million. In the last day, 222 people have also lost their lives due to the virus, taking the total death toll to 150,336.