LUCKNOW, Dec 4: Indian police on Tuesday filed criminal charges against one of the country’s wealthiest executives after his telephone company circulated a joke equating Sikhs with donkeys.

Anil Ambani, who holds a major stake in the country’s second-biggest private telephone firm Reliance Communications, is accused of hurting religious sentiment.

“We have registered a case of causing hurt to religious sentiment against Anil Ambani and Reliance Communications,” police inspector Raja Singh said in Lucknow, where a complaint was registered late on Monday.

The charges came after members of the Sikh faith, centred in India’s northern Punjab state, were equated with donkeys on a joke service provided by Reliance Communications.

The offence carries a maximum prison sentence of six months.

Reliance Communications insisted it was not an error committed by the company but regretted the circulation of the controversial joke.

“The jokes are provided by a third-party vendor to the subscribers of telecom operators and the vendor is responsible for the content provided,” Reliance said in a statement.“The vendor has already apologised... and while regretting the vendor’s mistake we are tendering our own sincere apologies for any hurt to the sentiments of our Sikh brothers,” it added.—AFP