Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, who was accused of obscenity and indecency in an incident in which co-accused Hollywood actor Richard Gere publicly kissed her, was released by a Mumbai court on Monday, January 24. The incident occurred in Rajasthan in 2007 during a promotional event. In Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, three cases were filed against Shetty in 2007 for publicly kissing the Hollywood star and AIDS awareness campaigner.
Following a review of the complaint that sparked the case, Metropolitan Magistrate Ketaki Chavan concluded that the actress was a victim of the element of accused number one, Gere's alleged act. The Magistrate was convinced that the charges against Shetty were unfounded after reviewing the police report and documents.
“Not a single element of any of the alleged offense is being satisfied in the complaint. Moreover, none of the papers annexed with the final report discloses act of present accused so as to bring her within the purview of Section 34 of IPC (common intention).” the order observed.
The Supreme Court granted Shetty's request to transfer the case to Mumbai in 2017, after which the complaint and transfer case was heard by the Metropolitan Magistrate in Ballard Pier, Mumbai.
Through Advocate Madhukar Dalvi, the actress filed for discharge under Sections 239 (discharge after considering police report and documents) and 245 (discharge after considering evidence) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
According to Shetty's applications, the charge against her is "only that she did not protest when the co-accused, Richard Gere, kissed her, which by no stretch of the imagination made her a conspirator or perpetrator of the crime."
