According to news agency PTI, actress Shilpa Shetty has been cleared by a Mumbai court in an obscenity case filed 14 years ago. The court ruled that Ms. Shetty was the "victim" of a contentious kiss involving Hollywood star Richard Gere.
Shilpa Shetty and Richard Gere were at an AIDS awareness event in Rajasthan in 2007 when Mr. Gere repeatedly hugged and kissed Ms. Shetty on the cheek. Several complaints and protests were lodged across the country as a result. The complaint against Shilpa Shetty was that she did not object when Richard Gere kissed her; the case was transferred from a Rajasthan court to Mumbai on the Supreme Court's order.
Shilpa Shetty was released by a Mumbai court on January 18, according to PTI. "It appears that accused Shilpa Shetty is the victim of accused No. 1's alleged act (Richard Gere). "Not a single element of any of the alleged offenses is satisfied in the complaint," metropolitan magistrate Ketki Chavan wrote in the court order. "By no stretch of the imagination does this make her a conspirator or perpetrator of any crime." On Monday, the court order was made public.
Richard Gere, whose effigy was burned after the controversial kiss, later apologized for offending; Shilpa Shetty called the protests an overreaction.