A Sikh organisation here has objected to the contents of a recently released book on jokes, prompting the Maharashtra Minorities Commission to seek police action against the publisher.

Sikh Media and Culture Watch recently approached the Commission with a complaint that a Santa-Banta SMS Jokes booklet, brought out by Ideas publishing house, had made explicit reference to the community, which was “deeply humiliating.”

The group did not mind the use of names Santa-Banta, but it found the picture of a Sikh on the cover, and explicit reference to the community in some of the jokes very galling, Minority Commission’s vice chairman Abraham Mathai told reporters. The memorandum presented by the group to the commission says that the booklet “must be considered racist”.

The commission has now written to the Police Commissioner “to explore the possibility of taking action against the publisher for intentionally outraging religious feelings of a community,” Mathai said.