Gujarat HC refuses to ban use of loudspeakers at mosques

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday refused to ban the use of loudspeakers for azaan or the Islamic call to prayer at mosques. During the hearing, a division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha P Mayee also asked, if it was the petitioner’s case that the noise of bells and gongs during ‘aarti’ at a temple is not heard outside.

The High court was hearing a PIL filed by Bajrang Dal leader Shaktisinh Zala, claiming that “noise pollution” caused by azan when played through loudspeakers affects people, especially children’s health and causes inconvenience otherwise.

The high court noted that the claims in the petition had no scientific foundation. “We fail to understand how the human voice making azan 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,” it further said.

The bench further said, “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 am. So it does not cause any kind of noise to anyone? Can you say the noise of ghanta (bell) and ghadiyal (gong) in temple premises, does not percolate outside the temple? “, the court asked the petitioner’s lawyer.

The high court in its order stated that there is a scientific method for measuring noise pollution, but the petition does not provide any data to show that a ten-minute azan causes noise pollution.