Richard Gere kiss case: A woman who is groped in the street or on public transport cannot be called a “participant” on her part in such incidents and cannot be prosecuted for failing to act, a Mumbai court ruled in the 2007 obscenity case on Hollywood star Richard Gere kissing the actor. Shilpa Shetty at a public event. In the present case, the defendant (Shetty) had not kissed, but she was kissed.
The obscenity on his part is not self-evident, Extra Sessions Judge SC Jadhav said last week as he upheld a trial court order acquitting Bollywood actor Shetty in the case. The detailed order became available on Tuesday. In 2007, Gere had killed Shetty on his cheeks when they got together on stage for an AIDS awareness show in Rajasthan.
The prosecution had said there was ample evidence against the defendant (Shetty) to bring charges under IPC section 292 for obscenity, provisions of the Information Technology Act and the Indecent Depiction of Women (Prohibition) Act, and prayed for nullify the magistrate’s order. However, Shilpa Shetty, represented by lawyer Prashant Patil, opposed the guilty plea, saying the lower court order was “proper and legal”.
There is no material to formulate charges and therefore, there is no perversity in the contested order. Therefore, the request for review must be dismissed at great cost, argued Patil.
The court, after hearing both sides, said on April 3: “A woman who is groped in the street or touched on a public road or on public transport cannot be classified as a defendant or participatory to the point of mental culpability. And it can’t be stopped.” by illegitimate omission to make it liable to prosecution.”
It is an unstated fact that the present defendant (Shilpa Shetty) did not kiss, but was kissed, the court noted. The obscenity of her part is not evident. There is nothing in the file on prima facie evidence of annoyance by the complainant, the judge said.
On the charge of “indecent representation of women”, the court said that the Law means the representation in any manner of a woman’s figure, shape or body or any part thereof in such a way as to have the effect of being indecent, or derogatory or denigrating for women, or that may deprave, corrupt or harm morality or public morality.
However, “there is nothing to suggest” that the Bollywood star committed anything as such to make it an offense under the Indecent Depiction of Women in any form (Prohibition) Act, the court said. Having considered the recorded material and police documents, there is no material to file charges against the defendants, she said. The magistrate’s order does not require any interference from this court, the judge said, adding that the magistrate has correctly considered the material before her.
Following complaints following the incident in 2007, a case was registered in Rajasthan against Gere and Shetty under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology Act for obscenity. He was transferred to Mumbai from a first-class magistrate’s court in Rajasthan by order of the Supreme Court in 2017.
By January 2022, a Mumbai magistrate court had cleared Shetty of the case. The prosecution then filed an application with the session court challenging the magistrate’s order. He had claimed that Shetty was well aware of the fact that the press and media were present at the event.
Kissing in public is an offense and is a “bilateral act.” The defendant did not protest and her act amounts to an illegal omission on her part, the prosecution had said. She claimed that the defendant knew that her act would definitely be broadcast on the news channels, which showed her mental guilt.