Mosques Approach Bombay High Court Challenging Mumbai Police Notices To Remove Azaan Loudspeakers

Five Mosques from Mumbai's eastern suburbs have approached the Bombay High Court accusing the Police of 'targeting' the Muslim Community by issuing allegedly 'unsubstantiated' notices to several such mosques for removing loudspeakers used for daily Azaan on ground of breaching the provisions of Noise Pollution Rules, 2000.

A division bench of Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Milind Sathaye on Tuesday issued notice to the Maharashtra Government, Mumbai Police and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and a further directive is issued to the authorities to file their response in the plea by July 9, the next date of hearing. 

The petition has been filed by Anjuman Ittehad o TaraqquI Madinah Masjid, Hazrat Shamsuddin Baba Dargah, Masjid Ahl-Hadees-W-Madrasa Arabiya Dar-ul-Huda, Mubarak Masjid and Masjid-e-Aqsa - through advocate Mubin Solkar. 

As per the petition, worshippers at hundreds of Masjids, Dargahs etc are being affected by the Mumbai Police, which it claims has set out on a rampage across the city, selectively targeting Masjids and Dargahs by issuing unsubstantiated notice without particulars of the alleged violation of the Noise Pollution Rules, 2000, by using the loudspeakers. 

"All the notices are issued which give no particulars of the date and time of the alleged violations nor the measurement of decibels at the time of the alleged violations. The whole movement is targeting Muslim community and is the instance of hostile discrimination. This is, therefore, in violation of the fundamental rights under Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution of India," the plea reads. 

The plea alleged that the police department is acting at the behest of a 'vested' political interest to launch this 'movement' by issuing arbitrary notices, which are then used by the police machinery to take follow-up actions like imposing arbitrary fines, terminating subsisting licences, refusing to renew licences and even forcefully seizing the loudspeakers. 

 The bench is likely to hear on July 9.

Counsel for Petitioners: Senior Advocate Yusuf Muchala along with Advocates Karim Pathan, Altaf Khan, Rashda Ainapore and Aqil Khan appeared for Petitioners.