10-min azaan on loudspeaker not noise pollution, rules Gujarat HC

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court dismissed a PIL seeking a ban on the use of loudspeakers for azaan, observing that the call to prayer does not create noise pollution as it lasts less than 10 minutes.

The bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha Mayee junked the plea filed by Dharmendra Prajapati, a doctor from Gandhinagar, who took objection to azaan blaring five times a day from a mosque near his hospital. He argued that it caused disturbance to the people, especially the patients.

The bench said: "We fail to understand how the human voice reciting azaan through loudspeaker can achieve the decibel to the extent of creating noise pollution, causing health hazards for public."

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