’What about aarti at temples?’: High Court rejects plea to ban loudspeakers at mosque

mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, Nov 29, 2023: Using loudspeakers at mosques for Azaan does not cause noise pollution, the Gujarat High Court said on Tuesday, while dissmissing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a ban on their use.

 

Terming the petition "wholly misconceived", a division bench consisting of Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha P Mayee said they failed to understand how the "human voice making Azaan" increased the decibel (noise level) beyond the permissible limit to cause noise pollution.

"We fail to understand how the human voice making Azaan through loudspeaker in the morning could achieve the decibel (level) to the extent of creating noise pollution, causing health hazards for the public at large," the court said.

The petition was filed by Bajrang Dal leader Shaktisinh Zala, who claimed the playing of Azaan through loudspeakers causes "noise pollution" and affects people’s, especially children’s health and causes inconvenience otherwise.

"In your temple, the morning aarti with drums and music also starts early, at 3 am. So, does it not cause any kind of noise to anyone? Can you say the noise of ghanta (bell) and ghadiyal (gong) remain in temple premises only? Does (it) not percolate outside the temple?" the court asked the petitioner’s lawyer during the hearing.

The bench said it won’t be "entertaining this kind of PIL". "It is a faith and practice going for years, and it is for 5–10 minutes," the court noted.

During the hearing, the court also pointed out that Azaan is conducted at different hours of the day.

The bench said that there is a scientific method in place to measure noise pollution, but the petitioner failed to provide any such data for a particular area to prove that a ten-minute Azaan causes noise pollution. It further pointed out that the sole argument laid down by the petitioner is that people of different communities and religions live in neighbourhoods where Azaan takes place through loudspeakers and that this causes health hazards and inconvenience.

Courtesy: India Today