Police prosecute six in central Delhi for causing noise pollution

The first person to be booked was a disc jockey in Chandni Mahal on Sunday who was allegedly playing loud music. “When we checked his sound level using the device, we found it to be 145.55 decibels,” Bhatia said.

The Delhi Police in the central district, recently armed with sound-level meters, have prosecuted six people causing noise pollution since Sunday.

Police said that as per law, there are different noise limits in separate zones during the day and night. (PTI file photo)

Sanjay Bhatia, deputy commissioner of police (central), said that while one such device was issued to all assistant commissioners of police a few weeks ago, the central district has started measuring the violation of the sound levels and has started prosecuting violators. Officers said this is the first time the city police have started using meters and booking people for this violation.

The first person to be booked was a disc jockey in Chandni Mahal on Sunday who was allegedly playing loud music. “When we checked his sound level using the device, we found it to be 145.55 decibels,” Bhatia said.

A motorcycle rider who had modified his vehicle’s silencer was another booked for noise pollution the same day. The DCP said the modified silencer’s noise was found to be 113.11dB of sound.

Then, police near Jama Masjid booked an auto driver who was allegedly playing loud music in his vehicle at a level of 108.31 decibels.

They were all booked under the Delhi Police Act and the Environment (Protection) Act, the officer said, adding that they were fined ₹5,000, but handed no jail term.

Police said that as per law, there are different noise limits in separate zones during the day and night.

Daytime is regarded as 6am-10pm, while 10pm-6am is considered nightime.

Industrial areas have a limit of 75 decibels during the day and 70 at night. In commercial areas, the limit is 65 decibels during daytime and 55 at night, while in residential areas it is 55 and 45 respectively. And in silence zones, mainly around hospitals, schools and religious places it is 50 in the day time and 40 at nights.

Experts said sounds louder than the prescribed limits can have serious health implications ranging from deafness to heart conditions to sleep disorder.

While the DCP said it was the first time the Delhi Police has used this device, the traffic police have been issuing fines for pressure horns and loud music for a long time. “While pressure horns are easy to identify without a device, we were issuing those challans depending on how we manually perceived the sound levels,” Bhatia said.

The officer said that the prosecutions using these devices will continue.