In a temple, the morning aarti with drums and music also starts early, at 3 a.m. 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?” the court asked the petitioner’s lawyer during the hearing.
Team Clarion
AHMEDABAD — The use of loudspeakers for azaan (Muslim call to prayer) does not create noise pollution as the ritual lasts less than 10 minutes, observed the Gujarat High Court on Wednesday.
Dismissing a petition seeking a ban on using loudspeakers for azaan as a “wholly misconceived PIL”, a division bench consisting of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha P. Mayee said it failed to understand how the “human voice making azaan” increased the decibel (noise level) beyond the permissible limit to cause noise pollution.
The court junked the PIL objecting to azaan blaring five times a day from a mosque near hospitals.
The petition argued that it caused disturbance to the people, especially the patients.
The bench said: “We fail to understand how the human voice reciting azaan through loudspeaker can achieve the decibel to the extent of creating noise pollution, causing health hazards for public.”
The Chief Justice emphasised that noise pollution is a scientific issue and pressed the petitioner’s counsel to provide evidence of the alleged noise pollution caused by azaan, including details on decibel levels. “For how many minutes the azaan goes on? Not less than 5 minutes, where is the question of noise pollution? Show us the decibels. Technically how many decibels of noise [is caused by] azaan?”
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 a.m. 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 chief justice further enquired if other religious practices, such as playing music during puja or singing bhajans in temples, did not cause similar public disturbance.
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.
