The plea further claimed that loudspeakers have not been a part of various religions since their inception and came into being only after 1924
Invoking the Right to Privacy for the second time after the Supreme Court (SC) held that it is a fundamental right, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed at the Delhi High Court has sought removal of loudspeakers from religious places on grounds that such a practice violates the right to be left alone, which is a part of the right to privacy.
The previous case related to Right to Privacy was first reported in DNA, wherein a person stated that food firms Food Panda and Dunkin' Donuts sent him Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC) messages on his phone, despite him being registered on the 'Do Not Disturb' directory of Bharti Airtel.
The present petition came up for hearing before a Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Harishankar, who issued notices to the Centre, Delhi government, and the Delhi police.
The PIL, filed by social activist Sanjiv Kumar, contended that the right to be left alone, which is the foundation of the privacy ruling, has made use of loudspeakers atop religious structures a violation of one's fundamental right to privacy, which is protected as an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21.
The plea further claimed that loudspeakers have not been a part of various religions since their inception and came into being only after 1924. Hence, removal of these would not violate Article 25 and 26 of the Indian Constitution.
"Loudspeakers were never a part of any religion, whether it is Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, or Zoroastrianism. All religions are 4,000-500 years old, whereas loudspeaker came into existence only in 1924, less than 100 years ago. Hence, banning loudspeakers will not hit (violate) Article 25 or 26 of the Constitution," the plea states.
The plea also posed the question that whether loudspeakers not being mounted atop religious structures would make visitors less religious. "Does it mean that those religious structures that do not have loudspeakers atop them are less religious or those who go there are less religious?" it asked.
The plea also sought a complaint mechanism and suitable action against repeat offenders. Also, a direction to the authorities to monitor the situation after the removal of these loudspeakers.
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