New Delhi: Actress Shilpa Shetty has been cleared by a Mumbai court in an obscenity case that was filed in 2007, 14 years ago, reports news agency. Ms Shetty was the “victim” in a controversial kiss involving Hollywood star Richard Gere, the court decided.
Shilpa Shetty and Richard Gere were at an AIDS awareness event held in Rajasthan in 2007 – on stage, Mr Gere repeatedly hugged Ms Shetty and planted a kiss on her cheek. Several complaints and protests nationwide followed. The complaint against Shilpa Shetty was that she did not protest when kissed by Richard Gere; the case was transferred from a Rajasthan court to Mumbai on the order of the Supreme Court.
A court of metropolitan magistrate Ketki Chavan discharged Shilpa on January 18. A detailed order was made available on Monday.
“It seems that the accused Shilpa Shetty is the victim of the alleged act of accused no. 1 (Richard Gere). Not a single element of any of the alleged offence is being satisfied in the complaint,” the court said in the order.
The kissing incident had evoked strong protests in several cities in India. Following complaints, cases were registered against both Richard and Shilpa under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology Act for obscenity.
Immediately after the furore, Richard Gere had apologised to his ‘Indian friends’ for ‘offending’ them through a statement. Shilpa’s then spokesperson Dale Bhagwagar had commented on the apology through a release, saying, “It is sad that Gere had to apologize for no fault of his. All he had done was enacted a scene from his film Shall We Dance to entertain the truckers at the AIDS awareness event. It was a natural cute and loving impromptu gesture by Gere which was blown out of proportion due to improper projection by the gossip-hungry television media.
The actress, was 46, has not commented on the court order. She shared a philosophical post on the idea of happiness today.
Shilpa Shetty has weathered several controversies apart from the Richard Gere kiss – these include her accusations of racism against fellow contestants on UK reality show Celebrity Big Brother (which she won) and husband Raj Kundra’s arrest in a pornography case last year.
Shilpa Shetty made her Bollywood debut in 1993 film Baazigar opposite Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol. Her film credits include Dhadkan, Phir Milenge and Life In A… Metro. She has lately been the judge on talent shows like Super Dancer and India’s Got Talent.
