It is regrettable that the laudable initiative of the Green Court in Calcutta to contain the level of noise pollution in the city has resulted in a standoff with the imams and mullahs. Their defiance of the court's wisdom has involved them in criminal contempt of court. Equally disconcerting is the way the issue is getting politicised.

By no stretch of the imagination does the order of the court amount to an infringement of freedom of worship. The court's order, limiting the level of amplification to 65 decibels, is applicable to all public meetings and religious functions. The court has not banned ... azaan but only limited the noise levels. All religions are covered by this restriction.

This issue highlights the need to re-examine the practices in various religious. There was a time when the call to worship was relevant and helpful. Today it is superfluous and serves only to aggravate noise pollution. It is a pity that ... religious leaders have turned it into a communal issue.

It is indeed a pity that noise rather than silence is being associated with religions. But the spiritually sensitive people know that the attachment to the loud and the lurid is a symptom of spiritual decline ... It is in the infinite silences of our inner sanctuary, and not through blaring loudspeakers, that we encounter the divine ... Religion cannot be a license with which to defy judicial authority. Nor does it place anyone beyond the reach of good sense and courtesy in public life.                                              Maulana Wahiduddin Khan and others, New Delhi