Richard Gere to be arrested for kissing Shilpa Shetty · 2007-04-27 12:19
An Indian court has issued an arrest warrant for Hollywood actor Richard Gere after he kissed Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty in public.
Gere kissed Shetty several times on the cheek at an Aids awareness event in Delhi earlier this month.
The BBC informed, that the court in Jaipur in Rajasthan state called it “an obscene act”, after a local lawyer filed a complaint.
Shetty has also been asked to appear before the court.
Public displays of affection are still largely taboo in India, and protestors in Mumbai (Bombay) set fire to effigies of Gere following the incident.
Shetty has defended Gere saying that it was all done “in good humour”.
“He especially told me to tell the media that he didn’t want to hurt any Indian sensibilities,” she said.
Under Indian law, a person convicted of public obscenity faces up to three months in prison, a fine or both.
Gere, star of films such as Chicago and Pretty Woman, is a Buddhist and travels to India frequently to visit the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in the north of the country.
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