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'Seems She Is The Victim' : Mumbai Court Discharges Shilpa Shetty In Obscenity Case Over 2007 Richard Gere Kissing Incident
Sharmeen Hakim
25 Jan 2022 11:55 AM IST
A Metropolitan Magistrate Court at Ballard Pier discharged actress Shilpa Shetty in an obscenity case from 2007. Shetty was booked after Hollywood Actor Richard Gere hugged and kissed her during an AIDS awareness event in Alwar, Rajasthan.Shetty and Gere were booked under Sections 292 (Sale, etc., of obscene books), 293 (Sale, etc., of obscene objects to young person), 294 (Obscene acts...
A Metropolitan Magistrate Court at Ballard Pier discharged actress Shilpa Shetty in an obscenity case from 2007. Shetty was booked after Hollywood Actor Richard Gere hugged and kissed her during an AIDS awareness event in Alwar, Rajasthan.
Shetty and Gere were booked under Sections 292 (Sale, etc., of obscene books), 293 (Sale, etc., of obscene objects to young person), 294 (Obscene acts and songs), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC, Section 67 of the IT Act and sections 4 and 6 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.
"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," Magistrate Ketaki Chavan observed.
The court observed that none of the news reports annexed to the complaint demonstrated common intention.
Shetty, through her lawyer Madhukar Dalvi sought discharge u/s 25 of the CrPC on the following grounds:
-The allegation against the Shetty is that she did not protest when she was kissed by the co-accused Richard Gere. This by no stretch of imagination makes her a conspirator or perpetrator of any crime.
-Entire complaint does not disclose any criminal offence against Shetty.
-Section 292 deals with sale, etc., of obscene books, etc. Section 293 deals with sale, etc, of obscene objects to young person. The said offences has no application to the Accused above named. The Accused was only participating in a charitable cause for spreading the awareness of AIDs.
The case was transferred to Mumbai in 2017 on the apex court's orders. While a second obscenity case was also filed against Shetty, the Magistrate said it was a summons triable case and therefore the discharge plea would not lie. Dalvi said he would approach the High Court against this order.
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