Some people have no sense of humour. That's fine if they keep to themselves. But not when they literally coerce the police to arrest someone whose sense of humour may not be the same as theirs.
That's what has happened in Mumbai where the so-called Sikh Media and Culture Watch (SMCW) staged a demonstration and forced the police to arrest a publisher of a Sardar jokes book.
The Santa and Banta Joke Book is disappearing off the shelves of shops in Mumbai, and an emboldened section of the Sikh community there has even asked the cyber crime cell of the poliec to "ban jokes on the internet" which portray Sardars as objects of ridicule.
The Times of India reported [Link]:
Incidentally, Section 295 of the Indian Penal Code reads:
Section 295A. Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs
Whoever, with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of [citizens of India], [by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise], insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to [three years], or with fine, or with both.
So what's next? A section on jokes in the IPC?
A joke in itself, more often than not, does not stand alone. Someone or something usually is the butt of a joke. Just as there are sardar jokes, there are jokes about blondes. There are jokes about men and women. I am a Bong who loves Bong jokes.
The point is simple: if you don't have a funny bone, it is fine with us; but do not ask for a ban on those who do have (one).
