No reprieve from boom box menace

For a third consecutive day, boom boxes continued to reverberate across south, east and southeast Delhi, continuing to put residents through a harrowing time on Sunday, as truck-mounted loudspeakers belted out devotional songs at deafening levels on the eve of Navratri.

- HT Correspondent

The use of loudspeakers after 10pm is banned through Supreme Court orders nationwide, but Delhi Police appeared to be unable to enforce it with residents saying they were left sleepless with sound so intense that it shook their doors and windows as these vehicles rolled by overnight on Saturday and Sunday. The noise continued in several parts of the city at the time of going to print at midnight.

Deekshita Baruah, a 40-year-old resident of Greater Kailash, said the boom box menace disturbed them till late hours, “We can hear the music well till even 4am. Earlier, we used to make calls to the police but we have given up.”

A senior police officer, requesting anonymity, said: “Police cut power supply of at least 50 giant speakers mounted on trucks and other vehicles after they were found playing loud music. Police deployment was increased on the Navratri routes on Sunday, as maximum such processions would enter and exit the city.”

Senior police officials did not respond to requests for a comment on the lack of enforcement.