Use of loudspeaker in mosque not a fundamental right, rules Allahabad HC

As the controversy rages over the use of loudspeakers at places of worship, the Allahabad High Court has made a ruling saying that the use of loudspeakers in mosques is not a fundamental right.

The use of loudspeakers for ‘azaan’ (call to prayer from mosques) and ‘bhajan recitals’ in temples has been a cause of dissension across the country for a while now.

A bench comprising Justice Vivek Kumar Birla and Justice Vikas Budhwar made the ruling while hearing the petition by a person named Irfan. He had challenged the order by authorities concerned that had denied him permission to use loudspeaker/mike in a mosque in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun district.

“The law has now been settled that the use of loudspeakers from mosques is not a fundamental right. Accordingly, we find that the present petition is patently misconceived, hence, the same is dismissed,” the court ruled.

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According to the court, the authorities had furnished valid reasons for rejecting the request.

The petitioner had contended that the order of the administration was “wholly illegal” and violated his fundamental and legal rights to broadcast from the mosque through loudspeaker.

Over the past several weeks, the UP government had removed as many as 54,000 “illegal” loudspeakers from religious places across the state. According to sources, sound levels of over 60,000 loudspeakers installed at religious places had now been brought down to within permissible limits.

The loudspeaker fixed atop the state's famous Gorakhnath Temple—where Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath used to be the head—earlier faced the road but was turned inwards so that it would not be much audible to the people outside the temple.

Dispute emerged over the use of loudspeakers for ‘azaan’ when several saffron outfits had demanded a ban on it. These outfits, then installed loudspeakers atop several houses in Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency, had begun playing ‘bhajans’ and other religious songs on them at high volume during ‘azaan’.

BJP member and president of Shrikashi Vishwanath Gyanvapi Movement, Sudhir Singh had asked all Hindu residents of Varanasi to install loudspeakers and join the recitation five times a day.

Last month, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackerey had warned the government that his party workers would start playing ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ at higher decibel levels if the state did not get the loudspeakers removed from the mosques in Maharashtra.