A three-page letter purportedly written by some school children in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, has recently been doing the rounds on Whatsapp. The letter, dated November 9, 2022, is addressed to the collector and has an official stamp on it. In this letter, the children have apprised the Bhopal collector about the hardships they are experiencing as a result of the blaring noise coming from loudspeakers being used to play Azaan in a mosque in their neighbourhood.
What is written in the letter?
The children, who allegedly wrote this letter, stated that they live at Nikhil Bungalow Phase-3, Hoshangabad Road, Bhopal. It is believed that the Muslim population in their area is insignificant. The children have, however, alleged that they get extremely disturbed by the sound of Azaan emanating from the mosque’s loudspeaker. Asserting that Azaan is performed in different voices, both during the day and at night, the children demanded to know the exact reason for the noise coming from the mosque at odd hours. They also demanded that the mosque be shut down.
According to the children who wrote the purported letters, they discussed their problems with their parents and neighbours. However, they could not provide them with any solution.
The children complained that the loudspeaker that is installed on their colony’s boundary wall starts playing indiscriminately at any time of day or night, interfering with their studies and extracurricular activities.
The children went on to compare it to a temple in their colony. According to them, if there is ever a noise in the temple, the priest intervenes and urges devotees to remain calm so that others who are praying in the temple do not get disturbed.
The children were also perplexed as to why the Azaan is performed in Arabic, given that no one can understand the sounds emanating from the mosque. The kids claimed to have discussed this with their classmates at school. They also reported hearing similar noises in their neighbourhoods.
Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra finds a mention in the letter written to the Bhopal collector
The letter also mentions Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra. The children wrote that they learned about Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Bhopal during his Bharat Jodo Yatra via news. The children asked the DM to send a copy of their complaint to Rahul Gandhi so that they can discuss the solution to this problem with him.
In the letter, the kids said in jest that Rahul Gandhi is not looking smart in the beard he has grown and that he should stop and get it shaved.
At the end of the letter, the children inquire who the Azan is recited to when there is not a single Muslim family living in and around their colony. The students mentioned how they are aware of the Supreme Court and High Court directives with regard to the use of loudspeakers at mosques. The children asked the district administration to follow suit, citing how loudspeakers were removed from many religious places in Uttar Pradesh for exceeding decibel regulations.
Deepak Lalwani, the developer of Bhopal’s Nikhil Bungalow Phase 3 Colony, was also contacted by OpIndia. He denied having any knowledge of such a letter. He did, however, confirm that a mosque is only 500 metres away from the colony and that the sounds emanating from the mosque can be heard clearly across the colony.
OpIndia, however, cannot confirm the veracity of the letter. We attempted to reach out to Bhopal DM Avinash Lavania on his mobile phone for information about the purported letter, but he did not answer the phone. We tried seeking information in this regard over WhatsApp by sharing a copy of the letter, but till the time of writing this report, we received no message from him in this regard. The landline number of the Bhopal collector’s office, which is listed on their official website, remained unanswered. We will update this story as soon as we speak with the district administration.
