The police in Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district have registered a case against an imam for allegedly playing a loudspeaker at a mosque beyond the permissible decibel limit, The Indian Express reported on Monday.
Maulana Rafique Khan, the imam of Ghumthal village, had reportedly been warned several times after residents complained about excessive noise levels. However, the police said that despite repeated instructions, the warnings were ignored. The exact decibel level at which the loudspeaker was operating was not specified.
The first information report (FIR) was lodged based on a complaint by Sub-Inspector Sonu Chaudhary, who claimed that during a routine patrol, he found the mosque’s loudspeaker volume exceeding permissible limits.
According to Manoj Verma, the station house officer of Baniyather Police Station, Chaudhary had earlier cautioned the imam against using the loudspeaker at high volume. “When his instructions were ignored, the officer filed a formal complaint, leading to the registration of the FIR,” Verma told The Indian Express.
The FIR was filed under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to disobedience to an order duly promulgated by a public servant and continuance of nuisance after an injunction to discontinue.
Verma said that residents had earlier complained about the loudspeaker’s high volume, prompting police to visit the mosque and advise the imam to reduce the sound. “Since no corrective action was taken and the violation continued, legal proceedings have now been initiated,” he added.
Ghumthal is a Hindu-majority village, police officers told the newspaper. Security personnel have been deployed in the area as a precautionary measure to prevent any untoward incident.