The apex organization of politico-religious affairs of Sikhs Thursday 'banned' screening of the Hindi film "Jo Bole So Nihaal" and demanded that it be withdrawn from theatres worldwide as it had hurt the community's sentiments.

The Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) said the film contained certain objectionable references that hurt the Sikh religious sentiments.

"It should not be shown till the objectionable scenes are deleted and the film is cleared by the SGPC," SGPC president Jagir Kaur told IANS. The SGPC 'ban' on the film would come into effect from Thursday, she said.

There was confusion in the Sikh community in Punjab over the last fortnight after Joginder Singh Vedanti, head of the Akal Takht - the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs - supposedly gave a clean chit to the screening of the film.

However, Jagir Kaur set the controversy at rest saying a unanimous resolution of the SGPC and 25 other Sikh organizations at a meeting here Thursday called for a ban on the screening of the film.

The SGPC president said apart from certain scenes and dialogues, the name of the film itself was objectionable.

"'Jo Bole So Nihaal' was a Sikh religious battle cry and we respect it. It cannot be used just like that for a commercial film. The title would mislead people, particularly Sikhs, that the film is a religious one," she pointed out.

Jagir Kaur said the portrayal of a Sikh being a criminal and having bad habits was completely wrong. She claimed that dialogues in the film had distorted even the teachings of the Sikh holy book - Guru Granth Sahib.

She said the film also depicted crimes taking place in the presence of the holy book. "This is unacceptable," Jagir Kaur stated.

Admitting that the SGPC had no legal authority to stop the film's screening, she however, said they had the mandate of the Sikh community on this issue and would make all efforts to stop the screening.

The SGPC president said she herself had not seen the film but a committee set up by her had viewed it and submitted a report on the objectionable scenes to her.

Liquor baron and the film's distributor in Punjab Ponty Chadha stated that he would get the film withdrawn from theatres in Punjab Friday.

The Sunny Deol-starrer was released in theatres last Friday and had been running to packed houses following the controversy.

Sikh organizations and youths across Punjab had tried to prevent its screening in theatres last Friday but the police foiled their attempts.

Jagir Kaur demanded that the SGPC be allowed to nominate two to five members to the Indian Censor Board to ensure that nothing was shown in films that would hurt Sikh sentiments.