Supreme Court of India to Hear Petition on Anti-Sikh Jokes

The Supreme Court of India (SCI) is set to hear a petition seeking to ban websites allegedly hosting jokes that ridicule the Sikh community. Arguments are scheduled to resume after the petitioner, lawyer Harvinder Kaur Chowdhury, consolidates suggestions from multiple parties. Chowdhury highlights that these online jokes target both Sikh women for their attire and Sikh students, who endure bullying in schools and online spaces. A few decades ago the jokes portrayed Sikhs as gullible but hard working people, but since the 1984 Sikh Genocide, they took a nastier turn including threats to life and hostility toward the Sikh identity. In 2015, the SCI admitted the petition, which contends that some five thousand websites depict Sikhs in a derogatory manner, infringing their right to dignity. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee had also called for broadening anti-ragging definitions to include ‘racial slurs’ aimed at Sikhs, emphasizing the potential victimization Sikh students face. In parallel, the US is prosecuting acts of hate speech and threats directed at Sikhs. A 49-year-old man named Bhushan Athale pleaded guilty in a New Jersey federal court to hate-based crimes—one for threatening to injure employees at a Sikh civil rights nonprofit and another for interfering with federally protected activities via violent rhetoric. Court records outline that Athale left multiple profane voicemails in September 2022 targeting staff because of their perceived support of Khalistan. Prosecutors note that the threats also included expressions of hostility toward Muslims and antisemitic remarks. New Jersey has a sizable Sikh population, reportedly around one hundred thousand, and has marked political milestones such as the election of Balvir Singh to the Burlington County Board of Commissioners in 2017, and Singh’s recent swearing-in to the New Jersey Legislature.