Richard Gere-Shilpa Shetty kissing incident: Mumbai court discharges Bollywood actor in obscenity case

After perusing the complaint that gave rise to the case, Metropolitan Magistrate Ketaki Chavan opined that Shetty seemed to have been a victim of the act by the Gere, who is the main accused in the case.

Image: Getty, Josh Dahumel/Instagram

A court in Mumbai on Monday granted relief to Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty in the obscenity case against her. In 2007, Hollywood actor Richard Gere had publicly kissed her in Rajasthan during a promotional event. Finally, after 15 long years, the court has discharged Shetty in the case against her.

A complaint was filed against Shilpa Shetty after Richar Gere had kissed her. This led to the rise of the obscenity case, following which, Metropolitan Magistrate Ketaki Chavan pronounced that Shetty appeared as a victim in the matter for Gere’s act, the main accused in the case. The court said that not a single element of the alleged offence is met with the complaint. The court went through documents and police reports that were presented after which it found that the charges pressed against the Bollywood actor were groundless, based on which Shilpa Shetty was discharged from the case.

It was in the year 20007 when soon after the incident, a complaint was filed against Shilpa Shetty before a Judicial Magistrate First Class in Mundawar. The complaint was filed to sought registration of an FIR against Shetty and Richard Gere, which the court permitted.

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An FIR was booked under Indian Penal Court (IPC)’s Sections 292, 293, 294 (obscenity). Along with this, the accused were also booked under relevant sections of the Information Technology and Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act. Later, Shilpa Shetty had moved the Supreme Court seeking the transfer of the case to a court in Mumbai. The plea was accepted by the Apex Court in the year 2017, after which the case was transferred to the Metropolitan Magistrate at Ballard Pier, Mumbai.

Shilpa Shetty, in her defence, had filed a plea through advocate Madhukar Dalvi seeking discharge of case under Section 239 and Section 245 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

The actor, through her applications, said that the accusation against her was just she did not protest when Richard Gere, the co-accused, kissed her publicly, adding that it did not make her a perpetrator or conspirator to the crime. The Magistrate, after hearing both sides, allowed Shilpa Shetty’s discharge under Section 239. However, the application under Section 245 was rejected by the magistrate since there was no provision for the discharge of a triable case.