Sardar jokes are negative ads on Sikhs: SGPCto SC

R Sedhuraman

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Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, April 5

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee (SGPC) today pleaded with the Supreme Court to ban Sardar jokes as these moulded public opinion against Sikhs the way negative commercial advertisements did against business rivals.

SGPC’s counsel Satinder S Gulati and Kamaldeep Gulati maintained in their written submissions that such jokes also influenced adverse decisions by bureaucrats and the judiciary in matters involving the Sikh community.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice UU Lalit granted eight weeks to the SGPC and the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee to submit practical suggestions for curbing the menace of Sardar jokes.

Both committees informed the Bench that they had set up their own panels to go into the problem and come out with draft guidelines for the consideration of the court.

Besides SGPC and DSGMC, advocate Harvinder Chowdhury has also filed a PIL seeking similar relief. As the advocates representing the petitioners quarrelled over adjourning the hearing, the Bench advised them against politicising the issue.

The SGPC said the general belief that Sikhs enjoyed Sardar jokes was a myth. “Some of them may pretend to enjoy the same since it is a minority community, but the fact of the matter is that they do not.”

At the last hearing on March 17, the SC assured the SGPC that it would “certainly stop” commercialisation of Sardar jokes, which mainly affected students and children. In its petition, the SGPC has sought a ban on websites hosting Sardar jokes, besides directing them to pay adequate compensation for damaging the reputation and dignity of the Sikh community.