The Supreme Court said on Thursday that after eight weeks it would hear a petition seeking a direction to ban websites that show jokes that project members of the Sikh population in a bad light.

“It is an important issue,” a bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice KV Viswanathan said after the petitioner in person Harvinder Chowdhury said she would consolidate her own proposals as well as those made by other parties and submit a compilation.

“You are preparing a small compilation so that it will be easier to go through it… You have already received the suggestions. You can consolidate them,” the bench told her and posted the petition for hearing after eight weeks.

Chowdhury highlighted the complaints of Sikh women – who were allegedly ridiculed for their dress – and complained that Sikh children were also bullied in schools. Referring to an incident where a Sikh boy allegedly died of suicide due to bullying at school, she also raised the issue of virtual bullying.

In October 2015, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. Claiming that around 5,000 websites displayed jokes about Sikhs projecting them in a bad light, the petitioner had demanded a ban on such websites, saying the jokes violated the fundamental right to live with dignity.

Earlier, the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) had also urged the Supreme Court to include “racial slurs” and “racial profiling” in the definition of ragging – which has been banned in educational institutions in India – to prevent Sikhs from becoming victims. students.