Loudspeakers not integral to practising religion: HC

NAGPUR: Quoting a Supreme Court ruling, Nagpur bench of Bombay high court has said the use of loudspeakers is not essential to practising a religion, and that amplified sound cannot infringe on the rights of unwilling listeners. Dismissing a plea by Masjid Gousiya in Maharashtra’s Gondia district, seeking a directive to restore use of loudspeakers at the mosque, the bench on Monday said the petitioner failed to produce any legal or religious document establishing a right to use loudspeakers for offering prayers.

A division bench said: “The top court had observed that no religion prescribes prayers be performed by disturbing the peace of others through voice amplifiers or drum beating.” At a hearing on Oct 16, HC asked the petitioner to demonstrate whether installing loudspeakers was mandatory in religious practice.

The petitioner could not produce supporting material and was “not entitled to seek relief”, it said. “The SC had also noted that while there is a right to speech, there exists a right to listen or decline to listen. Nobody can be compelled to listen, and nobody can claim he has a right to make his voice trespass the minds of others,” the bench observed. The HC detailed Rules of 2000 framed under Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and cited health risks of noise pollution.

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