There has been an uproar in the legal circles over the claim of removing loudspeakers from mosques in West Bengal. During the hearing of a petition in the Calcutta High Court, a question was raised whether loudspeakers have been removed from 4,000 mosques in the state. On this, the court took a serious stand and directly asked the state government whether the police had actually taken any such action or it was just a claim.

During the hearing of the case, the court tried to find out whether any such legal or administrative action was taken by the police on the ground.

'No Imam or mosque management came forward': State government's argument

Advocate Mitra, representing the state government in the court, raised questions on the claims of the petitioner. He clarified that till now no Imam or the management of any mosque in the state has come forward and said that the police has taken any such action or removed the loudspeakers from their place.

Advocate Mitra told the court that the petitioner does not have any concrete evidence or ground facts for this. The petitioners are only saying before the court that 'they have received such information'.

Petition filed only on the basis of 'getting information', evidence missing

During the hearing, it came to light that the talk about removal of loudspeakers seemed to be based entirely on hearsay. The state government argued before the court that unless the affected party, i.e. the mosque committee or the Imam himself files a complaint or confirms the action, it cannot be considered true merely by someone's statement.

The court is now investigating how much truth is there in this big claim made by the petitioner and whether any campaign was actually launched in Bengal to remove loudspeakers or not.