INDIA: India's supreme court has banned the honking of horns, playing loud music and exploding firecrackers after nightfall in the country's expanding residential areas.
"No one shall beat a drum or tom-tom or blow a trumpet or beat or sound any instrument or use any sound amplifier at night [ between 10pm and 6am], except in public emergencies," the country's chief justice, RC Lahoti, said in response to a public-interest lawsuit. Noise pollution is a growing blight in India, where limited space means flats and houses are built inches apart.
Psychologists in the country also point to an increasing number of cases of stress caused by inhospitable urban environments.
One petition before the court highlighted the case of a 13-year-old rape victim whose cries for help were drowned out by loudspeakers. She set herself ablaze and died of burns.
Nights in India's cities are often punctuated by wedding processions, political rallies and religious gatherings that carry on late. Now such activities are under threat by a judgment delivered from the highest court in the land.
In breaking the peace of households, the court said: "No one can claim a right to create noise, even on his own premises, which would travel beyond his precincts and cause nuisance to neighbours and others. Nobody can claim fundamental right to create noise by amplifying the sound of speech with the help of loudspeakers."
The decision means the country's 28 states and seven union territories will have to confiscate loudspeakers and amplifiers involved in breaches.