India files cases against Muslim clerics for mosque loudspeakers
Police in Uttar Pradesh charge 17 mosque clerics over loudspeaker use, deepening fears of faith-based persecution under Modi’s rule
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — Authorities in northern India have filed criminal cases against 17 Muslim clerics and mosque caretakers for using loudspeakers during prayer, widening fears of selective state action against Islamic worship under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government.
Police said the cases were registered on Monday across several towns in Ballia district, about 400 kilometers east of New Delhi in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state and a bastion of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, a monk-turned-politician known for fusing religious identity with governance.
Superintendent of Police Omveer Singh told reporters the move was part of a district-wide drive to enforce court and government limits on noise at religious places. “Mosque caretakers have been instructed to strictly follow the directives issued by the Supreme Court and the State Government regarding permissible sound levels,” he said.
Officials said complaints were lodged under India’s new criminal code, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986. Cases were filed against mosque officials in Gothhuli, Shodhanpur, Jamua, Umarganj, Nagara, Pakri, and Reoti, where police alleged that the azaan — the Islamic call to prayer — were broadcast “at high volume despite repeated warnings.”
Analysts say the enforcement reflects a widening pattern of state-endorsed policing of Muslim identity across Uttar Pradesh. While mosques face prosecution for sound violations, the same administration publicly sponsors and amplifies Hindu festivals using loudspeakers, fireworks, and government funds.
Processions for celebrations such as Diwali or Ram Navami routinely fill the streets with high-decibel music under official protection, a contrast that rights groups call evidence of institutional double standards.
Human-rights observers note that Adityanath’s government has repeatedly invoked environmental and law-and-order statutes to restrict Muslim practices — from banning the public prayer in Islamic festivals to limiting mosque announcements — while expanding state patronage for Hindu rituals.
Ballia’s crackdown illustrates how local policing in India’s north increasingly mirrors the BJP government’s broader ideological project: projecting order through majoritarian control of public space. For many Muslims, the campaign against mosque loudspeakers is less about decibels and more about silencing a faith that once defined India’s plural identity.
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