West Bengal Removes Loudspeakers From 4,000 Mosques

West Bengal authorities have launched a drive to remove loudspeakers from religious places, particularly mosques. The state government said loudspeakers had been removed from 4,203 mosques. It also said loudspeakers had been removed from 1,096 temples, triggering political and religious debate.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said the action was legal and non-discriminatory, stressing that the government was enforcing Calcutta High Court directives issued in 2020 and 2022, along with existing noise pollution regulations. Adhikari said police had not used force and that management committees had cooperated voluntarily. However, Imam of Kolkata’s Nakhoda Mosque, Maulana Muhammad Shafiq Qasmi, and other religious leaders alleged that police were pressuring mosque authorities to remove loudspeakers without written orders or official notices. Qasmi said neither the Supreme Court nor the state Pollution Control Board had ordered their blanket removal.

Court rulings have held that although Article 25 of India’s Constitution guarantees religious freedom, religious practices cannot disturb public peace or health. Noise limits are 55 decibels during the day and 45 decibels at night in residential areas, with stricter limits near hospitals and educational institutions. Religious leaders maintained that existing laws permit the use of loudspeakers within prescribed decibel limits and argued that ordering their outright removal without addressing noise levels is unlawful. Lawyer and CPM leader Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya also said loudspeakers for the Azan may be used as long as they remain within the limits set by the Pollution Control Board, adding that police cannot forcibly remove them.

Earlier this week, a video showing police overseeing the removal of a mosque loudspeaker in Malda’s Chanchal police station area went viral on social media. Following the incident, ISF MLA Naushad Siddiqui and other Muslim leaders described the action as discriminatory, warning of legal action and a petition before the Calcutta High Court. Meanwhile, three Muslim Members of Parliament—Yusuf Pathan, Khalilur Rahman and Abu Taher Khan—who recently joined the NCPI from the Trinamool Congress, submitted a written complaint to India’s Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the issue.