Bijnor police have arrested a mosque muezzin in Najibabad for allegedly violating prescribed volume limits while reciting the azaan, saying noise from sound-amplification equipment should not spill beyond the premises if permission to use a loudspeaker has not been obtained.
“The mosque management had no permission to use a loudspeaker. During an inspection, police found Faizan reciting the azaan. Sub-inspector Saurabh Singh subsequently lodged a report at Najibabad police station. Police registered a case against Faizan, seized the loudspeaker, amplifier and microphone, and arrested him.
Mohammad Faizan, 23, a resident of Mohalla Maqbara, was arrested on Saturday after police allegedly found a loudspeaker operating at a high volume at Najibuddoula Mosque near Government Inter College (GIC) in Najibabad. He was produced before a sub-divisional magistrate’s court, which remanded him to 14 days of judicial custody, police said on Sunday. At around 12:45 pm, they reached the area near GIC and allegedly heard a loudspeaker being operated at a high volume at the mosque. Earlier this month, the Allahabad high court directed the police and district administration not to interfere with the right to recite the azaan (Islamic call to prayer) five times a day at a mosque in Saharanpur, provided the petitioners complied with prescribed noise limits and the court’s 2020 judgment on loudspeaker use.
In such a situation, the noise of sound-amplification equipment should not come out of the premises,” said additional superintendent of police (city) Krishna Gopal Singh. He said the government and courts had issued directions from time to time on the use of loudspeakers and other sound-amplification equipment, and police were conducting campaigns to ensure compliance. The volume allegedly exceeded prescribed limits, causing noise pollution and inconvenience to passers-by, police said.
Sub-inspector Saurabh Singh and constable Rohit were patrolling the area on Saturday to maintain law and order and check suspicious persons and vehicles, according to police.
