The petition to ban Sikh jokes online took a “serious” turn in Supreme Court on Monday with the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) putting its weight behind the lone petitioner who suggested an immediate end to such jokes that showed the community in bad light.
The petitioner in the case, lawyer Harvinder Chaudhary, informed the bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur that the DSGMC too had filed a petition seeking ban on Sardar jokes and is expected to come up for hearing shortly. Directing both petitions to be listed together, the bench admitted that the matter had now taken a different turn.
The bench, also comprising Justices AK Sikri and R Banumathi initially wished to know whether the grievance of the petitioner was even shared by other members of the community and even put this question to ASG PS Patwalia, who belongs to the same community.
On coming to know about DSGMC petition, the bench added, “The issue is quite interesting. If you say the community stands by you and is feeling bad about the same (Sardar jokes) we will treat it (petition) seriously.”
Although the petition prayed for banning jokes as it showed Sardars as stupid, foolish and persons with low intellect, the bench was at a loss to determine when and how such a thing can be established to lead to a ban.