Sowmiya Rajendrakumar
Published on: 24 August, 2022 at 21:04 IST
The Karnataka High Court recently rejected a plea seeking directions to mosques in the State to stop using loudspeakers for the Azan call (call for prayer [Chandrashekhar v. State].
A division bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice S Vishwajith Shetty rejected the contention of the petitioner that Azan contains words which violate the fundamental rights of other religious communities.
“The contention that the contents of Azan violate the fundamental right guaranteed to the petitioner as well the persons of other faith cannot be accepted,” observed the bench.
The bench further noted that Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India embodies the principles of religious toleration, which are characteristic of the Indian civilization.
The Court was hearing a plea filed by one Chandrasekhar R contending that Azan contains words which hurts the sentiments of other religious communities and, therefore, mosques should be directed not to use loudspeakers or other public address systems when giving the Azan call.
The Court noted that Article 25 (1) of the Constitution confers the fundamental right on persons to freely profess, practice and propagate their own religion.
The aforesaid right, the Court conceded, is not an absolute right but is subject to the restrictions on the ground of public order, morality, health as well as other provisions of the Constitution.
However, the bench observed that the petitioner himself had mentioned in the plea that Azan was an essential religious practice of the persons belonging to Islam.
“Undoubtedly the petitioner as well believers of other faiths have the Right to practice their religion. Azaan is a call to Muslims to offer prayers. It is the case the petitioner himself as pleaded in para 6 (b) of the writ petition, that Azan is an essential religious practice of the persons belonging to Islam,” the Court said.
Hence, the Court turned down the plea while noting that Azan does not contain any words which could hurt the sentiments of other communities.
However, before parting, the Court directed the State authorities to ensure that loudspeakers, public address system, sound producing instruments and other music musical instruments shall not be permitted to be used above the permissible decibel from 10 pm to 6 am.
The Court referred to its June 17, 2022 order wherein it had asked the State government and authorities to prevent the use of loudspeakers, public address system and other musical instruments during the night.
The bench further directed the State authorities to follow all the directions and file a compliance report regarding the same within eight weeks.
The petitioner was represented by Advocate Manjunath S Halawar while State was represented by advocate SS Mahendra.