RANCHI: After the row over use of loudspeakers in the mosques in Uttar Pradesh, a PIL seeking prohibition on the use of loudspeakers for 'azaan' has been filed in Jharkhand High Court.
The PIL, filed by Deoghar resident Anuranjan Ashok, says 'azaan’ through loudspeakers creates noise pollution and troubles for others.
Before 1932, loudspeakers were not used in mosques and therefore, it has nothing to do anything with religion. “Noise pollution has become a common problem these days and hence there must be some restrictions on creating it," the petitioner said.
As per the rules, the sound of the loudspeaker should not exceed 10 decibels, but it is being violated rampantly by the mosques, he added.
Ashok further said that, though the Supreme Court has already passed an order in 2005 that loudspeakers should not be used in the mosques. “I had also written to the State Government in November last year, but no action was taken in this regard and hence, I was compelled to file the PIL in Jharkhand High Court,” said Ashok. He has tried to put Supreme Court’s ruling into the notice of the High Court, he added.
“Secondly, I have also pleaded in my petition that offering ‘namaaz’ on the road, other public places must also be declared illegal. There must be a law that ‘namaaz’ is offered inside the mosques without disturbing others and not on the roads or any other person's land,” said Ashok.
Notably, similar voices were raised in UP recently where Allahabad University vice-chancellor Sangita Srivastava wrote a letter to officials concerned seeking a ban on calls for prayer via loudspeakers from the mosque saying it disturbed her sleep in the morning.
Acting swiftly over her plea, the management committee of a mosque near Allahabad University changed the direction of one of its two loudspeakers and reduced the volume.
Uttar Pradesh Minister Anand Swaroop Shukla also shot a letter to the Ballia DM saying the volume of loudspeakers at mosques should be fixed according to the court orders. The minister further said that he was facing difficulties while discharging his duty. Shukla said the loudspeakers also hamper the studies of the students of several schools in the vicinity of the mosque.