The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation seeking a ban on the use of loudspeakers for azaan or the Islamic call to prayer at mosques, terming the plea as “wholly misconceived.”
A division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha P Mayee also asked, during the hearing, if it was the petitioner’s case that the noise of bells and gongs during `aarti’ at a temple is not heard outside, PTI reported.
The petition, filed by Bajrang Dal leader Shaktisinh Zala, claimed that “noise pollution” caused by azan when played through loudspeakers affects people’s, especially children’s health and causes inconvenience otherwise.
But the high court noted that the claims in the petition had no scientific foundation.
Azan is conducted for a maximum of ten minutes at a time at different hours of the day, the court pointed out.
This story was originally published in outlookindia.com. Read the full story here .