Sardar jokes: Supreme Court says can’t lay moral guidelines for citizens

The Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to issue any direction on a petition seeking to ban jokes on Sikhs, saying it will be impossible to implement its order or guidelines.

The Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to issue any direction on a petition seeking to ban jokes on Sikhs, saying it will be impossible to implement its order or guidelines.

The Supreme Court said on Tuesday it can’t lay moral guidelines for the citizens over the issue of jokes on Sikhs. (HT File Photo)

The apex court said it can’t lay moral guidelines for the citizens over the issue.

“Sikhs are a highly respected community but you’re bringing it down by fighting litigation to ban these jokes,” said the court while hearing a petition filed by lawyer Harvinder Choudhary.

“Even if we issue guidelines who will control it,” the court said. If the jokes are a “societal or psychological phenomenon” then the matter lies in the domain of the legislature, it said.

Choudhary had contended that such jokes portray the Sikh community in negative light and wants such websites, which disseminate such ‘insensitive’ jokes, to be prosecuted under laws that carry a prison term of six months to five years.