It is not necessarily other passengers' right to the dark and quiet, but at least that seems to have been what the cabin crew members have decided to prioritise in the OP's case. I have personally never received a substandard service because of other passengers wanting quiet, but I also recognise that other passengers may prefer to sleep and I fully respect other people's right to do so, as much as I fully respect other people's rights to do reasonable things like eating whenever they wish in F.

I am not brave (?) enough to try to impose my desires on others to their big detriment (and to me, preventing others from sleeping well is a very big detriment, and so is preventing them from eating) and I have put up with the direct light shining into my eyes from a sole passenger in the cabin who kept the window shades open on very long flights that arrive at the crack of dawn (i.e. effectively a night flight but with a lot of daylight hours) when every other passenger including I was trying to sleep. That passenger wasn't even looking out of the window - just apparently couldn't be bothered with the lights or have enough consideration for 50 odd other people in the cabin who were all wanting to sleep. It certainly stopped me from sleeping as the luck would have it the light was directly hitting me and it was excessively bright but I felt that since sleep was not a published benefit I felt I could not complain.

On the other hand I would not dream of leaving my window shades open when everyone else is wanting to sleep or even having the overhead lights on. I have declined service until others were awake too, because I would prefer not to disturb others with clinking of the plates or heavy-footed walking from crew etc. I would prefer to come up with a workaround to enable me to do what I want to do without disturbing others. I suppose I am not really into shouting about my rights, although I would of course prefer to be able to do what I want to do. But if I want to eat whenever I want and not sit in the dark without considering other passengers or if I want to be guaranteed a dark, quiet cabin, I would have to fly private jets.

It's also about the numbers though. If everyone other than one or two is wanting darkness and quiet, does one or two passengers who does/do not have the right to make it harder for others to get what they want? Or, do the majority even have the right to make it less pleasant for the one or two?

To me, it's all about considering other passengers and also crew and being reasonable. I can imagine that the crew members have a difficult job balancing various passengers' differing needs. If everyone gave a bit of consideration towards other people when travelling, it would be so much easier for everyone.

In the OP's case, is a 30 minutes' delay really a huge imposition though, when it was 'asked' rather than imposed? It is even possible (although unlikely) that the crew have received complaints from others about the OP and his companion were noisy during the previous meal, rightly or wrongly, and perhaps felt concerned that it would cause more disturbance than it was appropriate. Or, maybe a sleep deprived Prem told them how much he needed sleep and they felt that Prem's sleep was very important. We don't know the whole story and it's not necessarily the crew being lazy, mean or inappropriate or about wanting to withhold published benefits by the sound of it.

Anyway, the OP got what he asked for in the end, although he needed to put pressure on them. So it really does not sound like a bad outcome anyway. It's not ideal for the OP and ideally, it should have been served right away without any ifs or buts but a bit of give and take is needed in almost every situation in life.