HC notice to Gujarat as PIL seeks ban on loudspeakers at mosques

The petitioner has also relied on an Allahabad High Court judgment where the request to permit call for prayers by muezzin in Ghazipur district by using amplifying devices was rejected by the court. The petitioner has submitted that he had also submitted a written complaint in this regard to the mamlatdar office in Gandhinagar in June 2020, who, in turn, had forwarded the same to the Sector 7 police station in Gandhinagar. However, no steps have been taken in this regard so far, he stated.

Advocate Dharmesh Gurjar, on behalf of Prajapati, submitted before the division bench of Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice AJ Shastri that the PIL is seeking a ban in accordance with Supreme Court-issued guidelines on limiting the volume of loudspeakers.

According to Gurjar, the permissible decibel prescribed under noise pollution rules is 80 decibels. When the court inquired about wedding bands, the counsel submitted there are existing norms for that and added those who do not believe in Islam should not be subjected to “such noise pollution”. “There are restrictions for Ganpati festival, Navratri, then why not… (for mosques’ prayer calls),” he asked.

The petition also stated that the use of loudspeakers for prayer calls encroaches upon the fundamental rights of the petitioner and thus, in this regard, has sought the court’s directions to the appropriate authority to ban the use of loudspeakers in all over Gujarat.

The plea went on to cite the loudspeakers “are hectic and intolerable for public at large, and causes severe mental illness, physical problem to old-aged persons and small children, and will also affect the work efficiency of public at large and, in short, it is not good for health”. It was submitted that as per the rules of the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, a loudspeaker or public address system shall not be used except after obtaining a written permission from a competent authority. However, “there is no valid written permission obtained” while using loudspeaker for offering prayers”. “Hence some restrictions are required to be imposed upon them,” he submitted.