10-min azaan on loudspeaker not noise pollution, rules Gujarat HC

The Gujarat high court dismissed a PIL seeking a ban on the use of loudspeakers for azaan, observing that the call to prayer does not create noise pollution as it lasts less than 10 minutes.

The bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha Mayee junked the plea filed by Dharmendra Prajapati, a doctor from Gandhinagar, who took objection to azaan blaring five times a day from a mosque near his hospital.He 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."

Gujarat High Court on Tuesday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Bajrang Dal leader Shaktisinh Zala, seeking a ban on the use of loudspeakers for azaan. The court termed the plea, "wholly misconceived".

The Bajrang Dal petitioner claimed that "noise pollution" caused by azan when played through loudspeakers affects people's, especially children's health and causes inconvenience otherwise.

A division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha P Mayee asked the petitioner whether the noise of bells and gongs during `aarti' at a temple is not heard outside the premises'.

The bench sought to know on what grounds the petitioner claimed noise pollution is caused.

Azan is conducted for a maximum of ten minutes at a time at different hours of the day, the court pointed out.

The high court noted that the claims in the petition had no scientific foundation.

There is a scientific method for measuring noise pollution, but the petition does not provide any data to show that a ten-minute azan causes noise pollution, the court added.