Gujarat High Court Seeks State Govt's Reply On PIL Against Use Of Loudspeakers By Mosques For Azaan

The Gujarat High Court on Monday directed the Gujarat Government to file its reply on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea seeking a direction to the state government to take appropriate measures for banning the use of loudspeakers in mosques for Azaan, 5 times a day, across the State.

The bench of Acting Chief Justice A. J. Desai and Justice Biren Vaishnav passed this order while allowing one Shaktisinh Zala, a Bajrang Dal leader, to join an already instituted PIL in this regard, after the original petitioner Dharmendra Prajapati sought to withdraw his plea citing threats from people belonging to a certain community.

Prajapati, a doctor who is running his clinic in Gandhinagar district, had moved the Court last year stating that the members of the Muslim community offer prayers in the Mosques while using the loudspeaker and this causes great inconvenience and disturbance to the nearby residents.

Further, the petitioner has also referred to the May 2020 ruling of the Allahabad High Court wherein the Court had held that Azan is certainly an essential and integral part of Islam but the use of microphones and loudspeakers is not an essential and an integral part thereof.

The PIL before the Court seeks a ban on the use of loudspeakers for the purpose of Azaan at mosques in the state claiming that they add to noise pollution and violate the fundamental rights of citizens.