New Delhi: Responding to a petition seeking a governmental clampdown on more than 5,000 websites carrying Sikh-centric jokes, the Supreme Court has decided to look into the possibility of a ban in this regard.

“A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed by me in the apex court on Thursday for a ban on websites, which spread jokes portraying the ‘Sardar’ community as persons of low intellect, stupid and foolish. These websites are criticising Sikh community and it should immediately stop. In fact, all jokes about the Sikh community on the internet and elsewhere should be stopped,” petitioner Harvinder Chowdhary told Gulf News adding “My children are humiliated and feel embarrassed and they do not want to suffix Singh to their names.”

She said these websites created public nuisance under Section 268 of the Indian Penal Code and it was a crime under the cyber laws.

The court directed the case for further hearing of the matter on November 16, as Chowdhary wanted to file some more documents in support of her plea.

Naming a number of websites featuring Sikh-centric jokes, Chowdhary sought directions to the Telecom Ministry to install filters to weed out jokes relating to the community. The Supreme Court bench of Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice V. Gopala Gowda asked Chowdhary why she wanted such a ban as “the Sikh community is known for a great sense of humour and they also enjoy such jokes”.

“The issue was first successfully raised in March 2007, when on a complaint filed by a Sikh businessman Mohinder Nanksingh Kakar in Mumbai, publisher Ranjit Parande was arrested for publishing a book on Santa and Banta, that carried derogatory jokes directed at the Sikh community. For some time after that, people were careful and sent lesser jokes on Sikhs but they are now back in circulation. It definitely hurts,” Gurpal Singh, a 49-year-old banker from Delhi, said.

Likewise, in 2013, when a complaint was registered with Punjab Police in Jallandhar against some local people for sharing humiliating jokes on Sikhs on the social media, a downward trend in sending of such material was observed for some time.

“At that time, the people concerned were rightfully booked for insulting the community on the social media. However, because of the lax attitude of the government and police, the jokes on Sikhs were back in the limelight. This indeed is demeaning,” says 36-year-old Delhi-based architect Amarjeet Singh.

“People share too many jokes on Sardars on the social media. In the six groups on WhatsApp where I am an active member, hundreds of jokes on Sikhs are shared everyday. They are really humiliating. The question is why should we be the target of these dumb, irritating and weird jokes,” asks Kawaljit Singh, 47, a Ludhiana-based garment manufacturer.

Another lawyer and social activist Vijay Jindal feels that it is happening as a routine that Sikhs are being ridiculed in the jokes.

“But now I realise that it is hurting and people should desist from ridiculing any community, especially the one which is known for good qualities,” Jindal said.