Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh):
After Maharashtra, the loudspeaker row seems to spark in Aligarh as the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from here, Mukta Raja, wrote to Additional District Magistrate (ADM) where she has sought details over the intensity of the loudspeakers installed on mosques.
In the letter, the BJP MLA asked about the total numbers of loudspeakers as well as the intensity of them at Mosques according to the directions of the Supreme Court. “The sound intensity of the loudspeakers should be made as per the directions of the court,” the Aligarh MLA’s letter stated.
Raja asked the ADM to check if the Azaan at the mosques before 5 in the morning is a violation of the Supreme Court’s order. She wrote, “If not, what action has been taken so far about this?”
Meanwhile, Maharashtra government has mandated that all the religious places will have to get permission to install loudspeakers by May 3. This came a day after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray warned the Muslim community to remove from Mosques by May 3.
Various pollution control boards have also given directions on the use of loudspeakers.
According to Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board, loudspeakers should not be allowed to be operated after 10 pm and before 6 am and they should be fitted with a ‘sound limiter’.
India is not the only place where governments have imposed restrictions on the use of loudspeakers at religious places.
There are limitations on the use of loudspeakers at religious places in many countries including the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France, the UK, Austria, Norway, and Belgium. Some cities have also banned or restricted the use of loudspeakers in mosques such as Lagos in Nigeria.
(With inputs from ANI)
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