The Indian government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has imposed a ban on using loudspeakers to make the Muslim call to prayer (Azan) in mosques across Mumbai in a move that has elicited mixed reactions among majority of residents who have labeled it as an abuse of religious liberties.
Additionally, it has been reported that loudspeaker systems have been destroyed in different mosque compounds forcing the members of the Muslim society to create other means of offering prayers and participation in the daily prayers.
Because of this, now many worshippers and mosques in Mumbai are getting converted to the usage of the app of Online Azan developed by one of the companies situated in Tamil Nadu providing prayer times and streaming Azan digitally.
Furthermore, the app has experienced a significant usage with frequent mosques opting to join and send alerts of the daily five prayers and sending texts about the congregation through the mobile.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Deven Bharti confirmed that the police operation that ensured that loudspeakers are not used in places of worship was successful and that such an exercise forms part of an initiative aimed at helping to transform Mumbai into a noise-free and loudspeaker-free zone.
As an answer to this, the five Muslim religious institutions have already petitioned the Bombay High Court citing unfairness and legality of the loudspeaker removals.
