Ahead of Festivals, UP Police Removes 20,879 Loudspeakers From Religious Sites

CM Adityanath directed officials to take measures to avoid communal clashes ahead of Eid and Akshay Tritiya.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that no new permissions will be granted to set up more loudspeakers.

(Photo: Twitter/Gonda Police)

The Uttar Pradesh Police on Wednesday, 27 April, said it has taken down hundreds of loudspeakers from religious places in several districts while thousands of others have been slapped with strict regulations on orders of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

A total of 20,879 loudspeakers have been taken down from various religious sites across the state, while the sound of 41,229 devices was lowered in compliance with the high court order.

Of these, the maximum number of loudspeakers – 4,090 – have been taken down in the Meerut zone, followed by 3,984 in the Bareilly zone and 3,870 in the Lucknow zone.

CM Adityanath held a law and order review meeting last week and directed officials to take special measures, especially after Delhi's Jahangirpuri clashes and also because of the holy festivals of Eid and Akshay Tritiya, which are likely to fall on the same date early next month.

One of the directions given was that of removing illegal loudspeakers from religious places and to regulate noise from sanctioned loudspeakers as per various court directions.

The CM said that no new permissions will be granted to set up more loudspeakers.

Following the chief minister's direction, loudspeakers were also taken down in Agra, Gorakhpur, Prayagraj, and other districts.

The police in Gonda district tweeted that they removed the loudspeakers from temples and mosques while regulating the volume of sanctioned ones.

Gonda Police tweeted in Hindi, "In compliance with the order issued by the Supreme Court, the religious leaders of the temple/mosque of the Khargupur police station area, with mutual consent, removed the loudspeakers in their respective religious premises voluntarily and the volume of others was lowered.”

'Wholeheartedly Congratulate Yogi Govt': MNS Chief Raj Thackeray

"I wholeheartedly congratulate and stand grateful to the Yogi Government for having removed the loudspeakers from religious places, specially the masjids," tweeted Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Chief Raj Thackeray.

This comes after Thackeray urged the Maharashtra government on 2 April to remove loudspeakers from mosques, adding that if it was not done, he would play the Hanuman Chalisa on speakers.

Thackeray also appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to raid mosques in the Muslim-dominated areas of Mumbai, alleging that people living in those areas were supporters of Pakistan.

Following the MNS chief's remarks, party leader Mahendra Bhanushali was briefly taken into custody by the Mumbai police on 3 April for playing the Hanuman Chalisa on a loudspeaker without the required permission.