According to the report by Bar and Bench, Ketaki Chavan, Metropolitan Magistrate, Mumbai Court has stated that the complaint against actress Shilpa Shetty, regarding the Richard Gere – kiss controversy was “groundless”. The court also stated that the actress was a victim of the situation.
The controversy dates back to the year 2007 when the Hollywood actor kissed the Hindi film actress on a stage at an event. The event was held in Rajasthan to spread awareness regarding AIDS.
Post the event, the locals filed a complaint against the actress on the grounds of obscenity. A total of three cases were filed against her in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
Richard Gere, who later apologised for the incident, stated that he was trying to show kissing as a safe act, which does not lead to the transmission of HIV.
Shilpa Shetty’s legal team called it unfair for her to be considered as a ‘perpetrator’ for not protesting against the act.
An arrest warrant was issued against actor Richard Gere. It was later dismissed by the Supreme Court of India, who termed it as “cheap publicity”.
Actress Shilpa Shetty was last seen in ‘Hungama 2’. The movie co-starred Paresh Rawal and was a sequel to a 2003 film, Hungama. The Priyadarshan movie made it to the news for the negative reviews which it received.
