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Two men booked in Mumbai for sounding azaan though loudspeakers before 6 am

Complainants in both cases are policemen, and the charges include those under the Indian Penal Code and the Maharashtra Police Act.

By: Express News Service | Mumbai |
May 7, 2022 8:37:12 pm

Thane: Police personnel stand guard outside a mosque after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena called for agitation outside mosques, at Hajuri in Thane, Wednesday, May 4, 2022. (PTI)

Police in Mumbai’s western suburbs of Bandra and Santacruz have registered two first information reports against two men on charges of sounding the azaan for early-morning prayers using loudspeakers before the stipulated time of 6 am.

In the first case, an on-duty police constable from the Bandra police station complained that he had heard the azaan being sounded through a loudspeaker at 5.15am on Thursday. It was from the Noorani Masjid at Bazaar Road in Bandra (West). The constable said Zakir Khan, a member of the mosque committee, admitted he had been informed by the police in advance of the timings fixed for using loudspeakers. Anwar Shah, 28, who gave the call to prayer was booked under the Indian Penal Code and the Maharashtra Police Act for allegedly flouting the Supreme Court guidelines and the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000.

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A sub-inspector from the Santacruz police is the complainant in the second case. He was on duty when he heard the azaan being sounded through a loudspeaker at 5.35 am and rushed to the Muslim Kabristan Masjid on the linking road in Santacruz (West). The mosque’s president, Arif Siddiqui, applied for loudspeaker permission on April 30 and was on Monday granted permission to use loudspeakers between 6am and 10pm.

An FIR was registered against the mosque’s imam, Shoaib Shaikh, 30, who sounded the call to prayer through a loudspeaker. He was booked under Sections 188 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code and 131 (penalty), 33 (1) (power to make rules or regulation of traffic and for preservation of order in a public place), 33 (1) (r) (iii) (using a loudspeaker in or near any public place) of the Maharashtra Police Act.