Right to Azan intact, subject to rules: Allahabad HC directs UP police not to interfere

The Azan, the five-times-daily call to Namaz, can continue to be recited through loudspeakers, subject to permissible noise regulations, after the Allahabad High Court directed the UP Police and the Saharanpur district administration not to interfere with the practice while disposing of a writ petition alleging obstruction by the local administration.

A division bench comprising Justices Ajit Kumar and Garima Prashad issued the order on October 1 while disposing of a petition filed by Shanawaz Khan and five other residents of Saharanpur, who had sought permission to use loudspeakers for the Azan at Ayesha Mosque in Pathed village.

The court directed the petitioners to submit an application accompanied by a notarised affidavit, undertaking strict compliance with the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, as well as the directions laid down by the court in the Afzal Ansari case.

Once the application and affidavit are submitted, the court said, the police and district administration should not interfere with the petitioners’ right to perform the Azan five times a day at the mosque.

The petitioners had alleged that the local administration in the BJP-ruled state was obstructing the use of loudspeakers despite judicial precedents governing sound-amplifying devices.

The state government, however, had relied on the Allahabad High Court’s 2020 ruling in Afzal Ansari v. State of Uttar Pradesh, which held that although Azan is an essential Islamic practice, its recitation through loudspeakers or other sound-amplifying devices is not an integral part of the religion.