Shilpa Shetty-Richard Gere kissing incident: Mumbai court upholds Shetty's discharge
On Monday, a Mumbai session court upheld the decision to discharge Shilpa Shetty Kundra in the 2007 obscenity case. A criminal revision case was filed against the magistrate's order for discharging Shetty Kundra in the case that revolved around Hollywood actor Richard Gere, who kissed her at a public event. The event in which this case happened, was organized to create awareness about AIDS.
Why does this story matter?
For the unaware, the incident involving Gere occurred in Delhi in 2007. Gere kissed Shetty Kundra on the cheek during a charity event for AIDS awareness. The incident sparked protests in India, with some political groups alleging that the actor had committed an act of obscenity and indecency. In many cities, effigies of Gere were burned and some groups called for his arrest.
What are the new developments in this case?
It is pertinent to note that in January 2022, the Mumbai magistrate court discharged the actor from the case observing that the charges against her were rather groundless. However, the prosecution filed a revised application seeking charges before the session court, claiming that the court "erred in discharging the accused," reportedly. On Monday, Additional Sessions Judge SC Jadhav dealt with the aforementioned revision application.
A complaint was filed before a magistrate court in Rajasthan
After this incident, a citizen named Bhoopsingh Ramjilal filed a complaint before the magistrate court in Mundawar in Rajasthan against both actors for kissing publicly. Per reports, later a case was registered under Section 294 (doing an obscene act in a public place to the annoyance of others) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
The timeline of the case that you must know
In November 2011, Shetty Kundra filed a plea, and thereafter the Supreme Court transferred the case to the Mumbai magistrate court. The actor sought discharge in 2017, arguing that the allegation against her was that she didn't protest when the American actor kissed her and this was not evidence of co-conspiracy. On January 18, 2022, the Mumbai magistrate court discharged her from the case.
