If 10 mins of Azaan causes noise pollution, what about loud music, bhajan in temples? Gujarat High Court rejects PIL against Azaan

Use of loudspeakers in the mosques for Azaan five times during the day does not create noise pollution, the Gujarat High Court said on Tuesday while dismissing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking a ban on such loudspeakers [Dharmendra Prajapati vs State of Gujarat]..A division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha Mayee said the PIL was wholly misconceived as it failed to show how human voice through loudspeakers raised noise decibels beyond the permissible limits causing noise pollution. The PIL petition filed by one Dharmendra Prajapati, who claimed to be a doctor by profession, contended that use of loudspeakers in mosques causes disturbance and noise pollution. The bench, however, sought to know on what grounds the petitioner claimed noise pollution is caused. "You play music that doesn't cause disturbance?" the Chief Justice questioned, to which petitioner's counsel DG Shukla responded that the music is played in house and not in a public place like mosque. To this, the Chief Justice said, "We aren't speaking about music played in homes. You also play loud music for bhajan or aarti in a temple. That doesn't cause disturbance? How does this (Azaan) cause disturbance? This is for few minutes. Less than 10 minutes (through out the day) it is."CJ Agarwal further sought to know how many decibels rise at the time of Azaan?"What about your DJ? That creates a lot of pollution. We aren't entertaining this kind of a PIL. It (Azaan) is a faith and practice going on for years together. It is not even for 10 minutes (a day)," the CJ remarked. The advocate, however, emphasised that Azaan takes place five times a day unlike aarti in temples. "So in your temples, the morning aarti with those drums and music that starts early morning. It doesn't cause any noise or distrubance to anyone? Can you say that the noise of that ghanta and ghadiyal stays within temple premises and doesn't percolate out of the premises," Chief Justice Agarwal underscored. .Further, advocate Shukla emphasised that there are Noise Pollution Rules in place which does not permit use of public address systems (PAS) such as loudspeakers in certain public places. However, the bench reiterated that Azaan happens only for 10 minutes, throughout the day and hardly causes any pollution. "Noise Pollution is measures in terms of decibels. In 10 minutes, how many decibels go up? And how much noise pollution does it cause? You argue in this scientific aspect of measuring decibels during Azaan and then say if any pollution is caused. But you aren't arguing on this aspect at all," the bench observed. The bench said that the petitioner failed to show if he has measured decibel levels during Azaan in any specific area. It further noted that the only argument put forth by the petitioner is that people of different communities and religion live in areas where Azaan takes place through loudspeakers and that the same causes disturbance and health hazards. "This is a wholly misconceived PIL. We fail to understand as to how the human voice making Azaan through loudspeakers could achieve the decibels to the extent of creating noise pollution causing health hazard for public at large," the Chief Justice recorded in the order.The court further noted that the petition failed to create any foundation based on scientific method to measure noise decibels during Azaan to demonstrate the sound created by making Azaan for 10 mins at a stretch in different hours of the day would raise the level of the sound to cause noise pollution. "We therefore, do not find any good ground to entertain this PIL. It is thus, dismissed," the bench said.