Mumbai, Sept. 27 :
A sardarji joke has gone terribly wrong. The police arrested six persons of a local cable network here today, following charges that a not-so-funny interlude telecast by the network has hurt the Sikh community?s feelings.
All six were presented before a magistrate and freed on bail.
The cable network, Cine Cable Channel, owned by the Raheja group, telecasts a 40-minute news bulletin on city events. In the middle of the news capsule, there is a section in which a funny question is asked and responses are telecast.
On September 20, the question was why there are so many jokes on sardarjis. One respondent said it was because sardarjis do not have brains. Soon, angry calls started pouring into the office of Subhag Productions which makes the newscapsule.
Outraged Sikhs sought an apology from Sushil Deshpande, owner of Subhag. Though the channel flashed its apology in their news bulletin, calls came in asking them to apologise through newspapers. ?We even faxed our apologies. I have myself gone to the Andheri Gurudwara and also the Dadar Gurudwara to personally apologise,? says Deshpande, who said he did not expect the arrest a week later.
?We have had silly questions like who should be Sachin Tendulkar?s heroine in films or what you would do if you could vanish. It could have been taken in a funny spirit,? says Deshpande who lost Rs 20 lakh worth of video equipment after a group of Sikhs ransacked his office on Sunday.





