No evidence: Calcutta High Court dismisses plea against removal of loudspeakers from mosques

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition alleging removal of loudspeakers from mosques by police in West Bengal [Md. Danish Farooqui v State of West Bengal and Others]

A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Atarup Banerjee noted that the petition was filed on the basis of alleged information received from various imams, secretaries and presidents of managements of places of worship in Hooghly.

However, it added, no document was annexed with the plea to establish such claims. It also said that no specific act was attributed to the police.

"No particulars have been given as regards the 4000 mosques in West Bengal from which under threat of coercive actions, loudspeakers have been removed. No specific overt act has been attributed to the police authorities and no contemporaneous documents have been produced in support of the averments made in the writ petition. Suspicion, howsoever high, cannot be a substitute of actual proof," the Court said.

The Court further said that the plea did not accuse police officials of entering places of worship to remove loudspeakers or seize any equipment.

It also noted that a newspaper report relied upon by the petitioner did not suggest that police authorities had acted in an arbitrary or whimsical manner.

Concluding that the plea did not have any evidence to back the alleged claims, the Court declined to grant any relief.

The public interest litigation (PIL) was filed by lawyer Danish Farooqui who challenged "blanket verbal directions" issued by police in Hooghly and other districts to various places of worship, including mosques and temples, to remove loudspeakers installed on their premises.

"The Respondent police officials, without any written order, notification, or legal sanction, and without conducting any exercise to measure the decibel levels of the sound emanating from these loudspeakers to ascertain any violation of the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, are coercing the management of these religious institutions to comply with their unlawful diktats," the plea said.

Farooqui argued that 'azaan' (the call to prayer) is an integral and essential part of the Islamic faith, protected under Article 25 of the Constitution of India and such blanket ban is a direct infringement of this fundamental right.

Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, representing Farooqui, last week told the Court that police pressurised mosque managements and caused removal of loudspeakers from about 4000 mosques without any formal notice.

He said that on August 3, meetings were convened by various police stations in the district of Hooghly wherein representatives of mosques and temples were verbally directed to remove loudspeakers from their respective places of worship.

He also told the Court that no official order authorising ban on loudspeakers had been served on the places of worship. Such oral instructions violate the principles of natural justice, he argued.

In response, Advocate General Surajit Nath Mitra opposed the maintainability of the petition, stating that the petitioner had failed to disclose any specifics.

"Not a single imam has come forward. Who is saying? The petitioner is saying 'I have come to know'. Some responsibility has to be taken," the AG said last week.

Additional Advocate General Billwadal Bhattacharyya also appeared in the matter.

[Read Judgment]