A judge who yesterday granted an injunction regulating a family's incense-burning habits outside their high-rise flat in Mei Foo says the order does not curtail the right of worship in the city.
District Court Judge David Lok Kai-hong said he granted Hu Wei-hsin the injunction due to the circumstances of the case.
Hu complained that her neighbour Ma Hung-wing was polluting their common area and endangered her health while she was pregnant with her first child.
The judge also said he visited the eighth-floor corridor at the heart of the dispute and experienced different types of incense being burned in order to reach his decision.
Hu's neighbour habitually burned pungent incense in a corridor outside their high-rise, sparking the nuisance claim.
Hu said the fumes caused the premature birth of her baby, discomfort, respiratory problems, stress, headaches and sleepless nights. She had no evidence to prove this. The baby was born two weeks early and is healthy. Ma and his wife and son have been ordered to burn incense no more than two times a day in the building's corridor, with each session only lasting 30 minutes.
'In a multicultural society like Hong Kong, we should always respect Chinese culture and the right of individuals to carry out any kind of worship or religious ceremony,' Lok said. 'However, if such activities constitute a nuisance to neighbours, in particular if the activities are performed in the common area of a multi-storey building, such activities should not be allowed,' he said. 'This has nothing to do with the right to worship.'