UP Police remove illegal loudspeakers from Sambhal mosque, Imam booked
New Delhi: Loudspeakers of a mosque in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal district were removed for violation of rules related to control of noise emanating from places of worship, a police official said on Sunday.
The loudspeakers were removed from Mosque Punjabian for issuing messages at very high volume, said a police official from Chandosi Police station.
The FIR said since the loudspeaker’s volume was found to be violative of the guidelines issued by the Allahabad High Court, the policemen on patrol removed the horn-shaped loudspeakers of the mosque.
The incident was reported by beat constable Jitender Kumar on Saturday around 7 p.m., said the FIR.
The name of the mosque’s Imam, Shakeel Shamsi, son of Abdul Shamad Shamsi, was also mentioned in the FIR.
The FIR was registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 223 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant, 270 (Public nuisance) and 292 (punishment for public nuisance. Provisions of noise pollution law were also added in the FIR.
In 2022, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government issued a set of guidelines to restrict the use of loudspeakers at places of worship.
The move, which came in the backdrop of communal violence during religious processions, resulted in the removal of over 3,000 illegal loudspeakers from places of worship belonging to all religions.
The rules related to limiting the use of loudspeakers say that these must be installed within the premises of a shrine. All loudspeakers installed outside the premises are liable to be removed by the authorities.
In January this year, the Allahabad High Court observed that religious places are primarily for offering prayers to the divine and the use of loudspeakers cannot be claimed as a matter of right.
Showing zero tolerance for the nuisance created by the misuse of loudspeakers, Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Donadi Ramesh made these observations while dismissing a writ petition filed by a resident of Pilibhit district seeking direction to state authorities to permit the installation of loudspeakers at mosques.
