Dubbing it as a “wholly misconceived PIL,” a division bench of Gujarat High Court on Tuesday rejected a public interest litigation (PIL) which had sought a ban on the use of loudspeakers in mosques during azaan.
The petition was filed by one Shaktisinh Zala, a local Bajrang Dal leader, who had sought a ban on the use of loudspeakers during the Islamic call for prayers on the ground of noise pollution it causes.
However, a division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha P. Mayee asked the petitioner during the hearing, if it was the petitioner’s case that the noise of bells and gongs during ‘aarti’ at a temple is not heard outside.
The bench has dismissed the contention regarding noise pollution or public disturbance the loudspeakers from the mosque cause while it also emphasised that noise pollution is a scientific issue, and asked the petitioner’s counsel to provide the scientific evidence of the claim and decibel levels of the loudspeakers during the prayer offerings.
“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 observed.
“We are not entertaining this kind of PIL. It is a faith and practice going for years, and it is for 5-10 minutes. In your temple, the morning aarti with drums and music also starts early at 3 a.m. So it does not cause any kind of noise to anyone? Can you say the noise of ghanta [bell] and ghadiyal [gong] remains in temple premises only, does not percolate outside the temple?” the Court asked the petitioner’s lawyer.
