New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked an expert panel headed by former apex court judge H.S. Bedi to submit draft guidelines so that appropriate orders can be passed to prevent circulation of sardarji jokes in the websites.
A Bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud gave six weeks time for the panel to hold discussions and submit the guidelines. The Bench passed this order after hearing counsel for various parties including Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) which said that the community is being bullied by such jokes.
Advocate Harvinder Choudhry, the main petitioner cited various instances of Sikhs being ridiculed and said over 4,000 children had committed suicide unable to withstand the humiliation. The CJI told the counsel “we have asked counsel to indicate the areas which we can address in our order. We will certainly stop commercial exploitation.”
The petitioners submitted that perception plays a big role at various levels of decision making, be it at the level of executive, in the bureaucracy and even in the judiciary. If this circulation of Sardar jokes be allowed to continue, depicting Sikhs as naïve, inept, etc. etc. then, since it creates a stereotype image of Sikhs, it is also leading to undermine the contributions made by Sikhs for the independence of India. He said there are many instances when Sardars face ridicule even in foreign countries about their lack of knowledge in English.
In its petition the SGPC said in the past it has filed complaints against such jokes, which are demeaning the Sikhs and portraying the Sikhs as funny and idiot characters. It is not out of place here to mention that Sikhs have been complaining against such jokes, which humiliates the Sikh community at large.
The issue of Sikh jokes has been raised from time to time, not only by common Sikhs, but even by the constitutional body, like the National Commission of Minorities. Thus, this issue requires consideration and adjudication by the Apex Court of India to decide and resolve this issue, and to set the guidelines, deciding as to the limits of humor at the cost of a depiction of a community in a bad taste, which leads to humiliation of the community at large and/or of the individuals belonging to the said community. The Bench directed the matter to be listed after six weeks.
