Photo: George Pimentel/WireImage
Shilpa Shetty has finally been cleared of “obscenity” charges stemming from aRichard Gerekiss at a public AIDs awareness event in Delhi, India in 2007.
A Mumbai court dismissed the case against the Bollywood actress, 47, this week, calling the charges “groundless” and citing that Shetty was the “victim of an unwanted advance,” according toBBC.
Gere, 72, and Shetty came under intense scrutiny after thePretty Womanactor hugged and kissed Shetty on stage during a public event nearly 15 years ago in an attempt to parody a scene from Gere’s film,Shall We Dance.
STRDEL/AFP/getty
The brunt of the criticism fell on Shetty for not “resisting” the kiss. Gere was also initially charged, but those charges were quickly dropped.
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“What is most important to me is that my intentions as an HIV/AIDS advocate be made clear, and that my friends in India understand that it has never been, nor could it ever be, my intention to offend you,” Geresaid in a statementat the time of the controversy.
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Appearing onThe Daily Show with Jon Stewartin April 2007, thePrimal Fearactor opened up about the incident,telling Stewart, “There is a very small, right-wing, very conservative political party in India, and they are the moral police in India and they do this kind of thing quite often.”
“I don’t know that anyone has actually gone to jail, it has to go through a process. It goes to a reputable court, and they throw it out,” he added.
source: people.com
