Representative image

MADURAI: Observing that places of worship should not cause disturbance to the public, the Madurai bench of the Madras high court has sought a report from the director general of police (DGP) regarding the number of religious places violating the norms on usage of cone-shaped speakers in the state.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) which was filed seeking to prevent the usage of such speakers in a church in Thanjavur district .

When the petition was taken up for hearing on Monday, a division bench of justice N Kirubakaran and justice S S Sundar observed that all the prayers should be confined within the walls of the religious places without causing any disturbance to the public.

The bench further observed that the police officials themselves should take suo motu action when they find religious places using such speakers.

In his PIL, the petitioner G Durairajan, who is a resident of Vilar village in Thanjavur district, stated that a church situated in the village plays religious songs using five cone-shaped speakers. He stated that the songs are played for three hours in the morning and three hours in the evening.

He further noted that even though the usage of cone-shaped speakers were banned by the court, the pastor of the church has been using them, creating noise pollution to the maximum.

Since no proper steps were taken to resolve this issue even after submitting representations to the officials, the petitioner moved the court seeking action against the pastor for causing noise pollution using such banned cone-shaped speakers.

