PIL in Calcutta HC challenges police order to remove loudspeakers from mosques, other religious places

A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed before the Calcutta High Court on Monday challenging police order asking various religious establishments in West Bengal to remove loudspeakers from their premises.

The PIL was mentioned by Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandyopadhyay for an urgent hearing before a Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Atarup Banerjee.

He said loudspeakers were removed from mosques across West Bengal. The Court said the matter will be heard on August 13.

The PIL filed by lawyer Danish Farooqui has 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 has 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.

As per the plea,

"The actions of the Respondents are manifestly arbitrary, violative of the principles of natural justice, and an assault on the rule of law. The Petitioner, therefore, prays for the intervention of this Hon'ble Court to quash these illegal verbal directions and to permit the use of loudspeakers in religious places in strict compliance with the existing noise pollution norms/"