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The Allahabad High Court has held that the azaan, or the Islamic call to ritual prayer, can be recited by a muezzin from mosque minarets with a human voice alone without using any amplifying devices or speakers.
The court added that such human voice recitation cannot be hampered on the pretext of violating guidelines issued by the state government to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
He also said that a loudspeaker cannot be used for azaan without prior permission from district administration in accordance with the law.
“We are of the opinion that azaan may be an essential and integral part of Islam, but its recitation through loudspeakers or other sound amplifying devices cannot be said to be an integral part of the religion that guarantees the protection of the established fundamental right in Article 25, which is even subject to public order, morals or health and other provisions of part III of the Constitution, “the court ruled.
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“It cannot be said that a citizen should be forced to listen to something that he does not like or that he does not require, since it amounts to taking away the fundamental right of other people,” added the bank.
However, the court rejected the state government’s claim that its recitation by human voice violated any provision of the law.
“The government has been unable to explain how the recitation of azaan simply through the human voice can violate any provision of the law or any directive issued in view of the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
The Bank, however, kept it open for the petitioner to approach the district administration to obtain permission to use the loudspeaker for azaan. He added that speakers may not be used for azaan or for any other purpose without the prior permission of district administration.
The bank of judges Shashi Kant Gupta and Ajit Kumar had a PIL presented by the Ghazipur MP BSP, Afzal Ansari, seeking to lift the ban on azaan from mosques in Ghazipur.
The petitioner’s request was that there is no specific order in the central or state government guidelines to prohibit recitation of azaan from mosques. Therefore, the arbitrary decision made by the Ghazipur district administration to ban prayer is illegal.
According to the petitioner, the state government’s argument was that the religious activity of any religious group through the loudspeaker has been restricted throughout Uttar Pradesh in view of the blocking patterns.
Furthermore, according to the state government, the Ghazipur district has been declared a hotspot zone. As azaan is a call to prayer over the loudspeaker, therefore it has been restricted in Ghazipur.
The state government, in its affidavit, has also presented a list of cases that have been brought forward revealing how people gathered in mosques in Ghazipur after a call through azaan and the administration struggled to control the situation.
Azaan is recited by a “muezzin”, a man who calls Muslims to pray from a mosque minaret at the prescribed times of the day.
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