Sardar Jokes: Supreme Court seeks SGPC suggestions

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought suggestions from Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee and lawyer Harvinder Choudhury within judicial dimensions as to how the ban on circulation of sardar jokes from websites be implemented.

A bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justices R. Banumathi and Uday Lalit granted six weeks for them to come out with concrete suggestions.

CJI told counsel R.S. Suri and Ahluwalia, “You want the court to sensitise the public and also introduce guidelines for schools. When we say do not crack such jokes, how do we enforce the order. Of course, we do not want you to be ridiculed but please tell us in what way we can do something.”

Counsel said, “Certain type of jokes are hurting us. It is not only the Sikhs. It covers Biharis and also people from the north-east also.”

“We may be enjoying jokes and also cracking jokes ourselves. But we do not want to become jokes ourselves.” They said we have contributed a lot, we have had a Sikh President, PM, and still we are ridiculed.

CJI quipped, “Sikhs are pride of the nation and that the community is second to none. We also had a Chief of Army Staff, soon you will be getting a Sikh CJI also (in apparent reference to Justice J.S. Khehar, a Sikh). We want you to tell us how our order can be implemented.”

The bench had already agreed to consider whether “Sardarji (Santabanta) jokes,” ridiculing the Sikh community as unintelligent, stupid and idiot, can be banned from 5,000-odd websites on the Internet on a writ petition from advocate Harvinder Chaudhry. The DSGPC had also filed a petition in this regard.

The petitioners suggested the Surpeme Court should at least issue some directives on the lines of the Visakha guidelines meant for preventing sexual harassment of women at work places.

Sikh children had become a subject of ridicule in schools and this should be stopped to protect their human rights, she pleaded.

In her petition, she urged the apex court to ensure forthwith a ban on the 5,000-odd websites targeting the community with funny jokes against the Sikhs, projecting them as “unintelligent”, “stupid”, “idiot”, “foolish”, “naive”, “inept”, not well-versed with English language.

She said that jokes apart, the community has been subjected to racial abuse and constant ridicule not only in India but various other foreign countries on account of the constant fun made at the community through jokes by these websites.

The petitioner regretted that though Sikhs held 12 o’clock as a time of great significance, the jokes often say that the community members’ brains do not function during the period. Her two daughters and sons also hesitate to use the prefix of Kaur or Singh in the surnames to avoid ridicule, she said.