Police Commissioner apologises to High Court for DCP’s controversial remarks

By LE Desk

Bengaluru, July 2, 2021: The Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru, on Friday apologised to the High Court of Karnataka for controversial remarks by the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Intelligence) that the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, need changes instead of enforcing them against places of worship for illegally using loudspeakers.

“I express my deepest regret and submit my apology for the said conduct of the DCP (Intelligence),” said Police Commissioner Kamal Pant in his affidavit submitted before a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Suraj Govindaraj, reported The Hindu.

The Bench had also directed the Police Commissioner to examine the statement of DCP (Intelligence) K. Santosh Bahu that in many places, where places of worship were found using loudspeakers, the permissible noise level had already exceeded the permissible limit due to traffic.

Clarifying to the court that the police are duty-bound to enforce the law, the Police Commissioner said complaints of noise pollution in 12 places of worship had been inspected, and complaints had been lodged before the jurisdictional courts against nine places of worship under provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1985, as it was found that noise level of loudspeakers during early morning exceeded the permitted limits.

The Police Commissioner also said it was found that staff of all the police stations in the city were given training during October 2020 on operation of noise monitoring equipment, and noise measuring meters had been provided to all the police stations in the city and they were in working condition.

As complaints before the jurisdictional courts were submitted by the Assistant Commissioners of Police, the Bench directed the government to state that the post of the ACP is equivalent to the rank of the Deputy Superintendent of Police, who are designated officers to take action for noise pollution violations. The Bench was hearing a PIL petition complaining about failure of the authorities in stopping illegal use of loudspeakers in places of worship despite guidelines issued by the apex court.