Mumbai: If use of sound systems and loudspeakers beyond permissible decibel limits is harmful during the Ganesh festival, then the same is harmful during the Eid also, the Bombay High Court has said.

The HC made the observation while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking ban on DJ, dance and laser lights during the upcoming Eid Milad-un-Nabi processions. The plea urged the court to direct municipal corporations to refrain from granting such permissions.

Advocate Owais Pechkar, appearing for petitioner businessmen – Zuber Peerzade, Siddiqui Alam, Amran Shaikh and Gousemoddin Shaikh, submitted that neither Quran nor Hadith prescribes the use of DJ systems and laser lights for celebrating Eid Milad-un-Nabi. The Prophet himself never advocated such forms of celebration.

The court asked the petitioner to show scientific evidence regarding harmful effects of laser lights on humans. To which Pechkar said he did not have any such material, but suggested that the court could direct the government to undertake such a study.

Irked, a bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice AMit Borkar said that proper research should be done before filing PILs.

“Why didn’t you do your research? So much hue and cry about mobile towers. Have you gone through its reports? How do we adjudicate such an issue unless it is proved scientifically that it causes harm to humans?” the bench said. It added that the petitioners must assist courts to help it pass effective directions. “That’s the problem. Before filing a PIL, you must do basic research. You should assist the court in giving effective direction. We are not experts. We do not know the ‘L’ of the laser,” the bench added.

When Pechkar tried to submit news reports giving opinions by experts highlighting harmful effects of laser, the court said those were “opinions” of experts and not based on scientific study.

“That is an opinion. It is not a scientific study. There may be divergent views of experts. Everyone thinks we have a cure for everything. Go and dive deep into the research. You should have contacted some scientist. And it (Eid) is celebrated everywhere,” the CJ said.

The court referred to its earlier order of August 20 wherein it emphasised ban on use of sound systems / loudspeaker emitting noise levels exceeding the permissible limits specified under the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, during festivals. “If it is harmful for Ganesh Chaturthi, it is harmful for Eid also,” the court asserted.

Pechkar suggested that the Eid also be added to the earlier judgment regarding Ganesh festival, the CJ quipped that the mentioned “public festivals”, hence no clarification was required and disposed of the petition.