Chandigarh: A comic trip published by Hindustan Times (HT), an English vernacular, has triggered outrage from the Sikhs as the comic showed a Sikh military personnel smoking a cigarette. Smoking is strictly prohibited in Sikh religion and amounts of one of the four forbidden conducts called kurehets.
The comic was published in Delhi Edition of the newspaper on 2 July, 2017 and is still available online in e-paper edition of the newspaper.
In the Comic strip the main character is shown to be a Sikh with beard and moustaches and he is shown to be a Sikh Maharaja Sikandar Singh. In one of the subsequent illustrations, the Sikh Maharaja Sikandar Singh is shown smoking a cigarette.
The newspaper has not yet offered any clarification or regret on this issue and many Sikh circles opine that it was a deliberate blasphemous conduct on the part of HT.
As per reports the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) has field a police complaint against the newspaper. In it’s complaint filed thought its’ counsel Jagmohan Singh, the DSGMC has states that: “the Supreme Court of India has clarified that the right to freedom of expression is not an absolute right but comes with the responsibility of not hurting the religious sentiments of responsible citizens…. by hurting Sikh sentiments they have committed officers under Section 153 A and 295.”