Allahabad University Vice Chancellor Prof Sangita Srivastava is among the innumerable Indians whose sleep is disturbed early in the morning by loudspeakers mounted atop Mosques blaring out the ‘azaan’. She, however, is among the very few who has acted against the same, and filed a police complaint in the matter, while also writing about the same to senior officers in Prayagraj, which include DM Bhanu Chandra Goswami, Prayagraj (range) IG Kavindra Pratap Singh and SSP Sarvashresth Tripathi and Prayagraj Divisional Commissioner Sanjay Goel.
Acting on her complaint, the Superintendent of Police D.K. Singh said that the Mutawalli of the mosque has been directed to lower the volume in accordance with the High Court orders so that no one’s sleep is disturbed during ‘azaan’. The mosque, which is also called Lal Masjid is located at a distance of 400m from the VC’s residence. After being directed by the police, the Mosque management has removed two loudspeakers, and reduced the volume on the remaining two by 50 per cent.
“We have also changed the directions of the loudspeakers so that the sleep of the Vice-Chancellor and others don’t get disturbed early morning when azaan is rendered from the mosque,” said Mohammed Kaleem, a member of the Managing Committee of the mosque. In the March 3 letter to Prayagraj DM Bhanu Chandra Goswami, titled, “Noise Pollution in Civil Lines, Prayagraj”, the V-C had written, “This is to bring to your kind notice that every morning at about 5.30 am my sleep is disturbed due to loud azan done on the mike by the maulvi in the surrounding mosque. The sleep so disturbed does not resume even after trying hard. This also results in a headache, throughout the day, causing losses in work hours.”
“I am not against any religion, caste or creed, they may even perform the Azan without the mike, so that others are not disturbed. Even before Eid, they pronounce Sehri on the mike at 4 am. This practice also creates disturbance to other people. The Constitution of India envisages a secular and peaceful co-existence of all communities, which needs to be practised in letter and spirit,” the letter by the VC added. She called upon the administration to take quick steps in order to “restore some peace and tranquillity in the minds of all suffering from this loud Azaan.”
In May last year, the Allahabad High Court had ruled that while azaan may be an integral part of Islam, amplifying it via multiple loudspeakers most definitely was not. The high court has also banned the usage of loudspeakers between 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., although Mosques continue to deliver azaan around 5 a.m. in the morning. The Allahabad University VC, however, has set a precedent of how a responsible citizenry must act when their rights are walked upon.