Webdesk: Based on an order from a magistrate court, Mumbai court judge S C Jadhav officially released Indian actor Shilpa Shetty. It was from the case against her and American actor Richard Gere in Rajasthan for obscenity. The case filed under different parts of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology Act.
In 2007, the actor from Primal Fear kissed Bollywood star Shetty on the cheeks. It happened when they were both on stage in Rajasthan for a programme to raise awareness about AIDS. Metropolitan magistrate Ketaki Chavan had already released Shetty from the case in January 2022. But the case kept going because someone in Rajasthan made a complaint saying that Shetty had done something obscene. It was not by saying anything when Gere kissed her.
The judge said that the current defendant, Shetty, not kissed but had been kissed. So it was not clear that she had done anything wrong. Bollywood star did nothing that would be illegal under the Indecent Representation of Women Act in any way.
“What the police found, there is no reason to charge the accused,” the court.
The prosecution said there was enough proof against the accused to file charges under IPC Section 292 for obscenity. As well as the Information Technology Act, and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act. They asked the magistrate’s order to be overturned.
Right & Legal
Shetty’s lawyer, Prashant Patil, argued against the plea, saying that the order from the lower court was “right and legal.” There isn’t enough information to make charges, so the order in question isn’t wrong. So, Patil claimed, the application to change the law must be denied, even if it costs a lot of money.
After hearing both sides, the court said on April 3 that “a woman who groped on the street or touched on a public way or in public transportation not called an accused or participant to an extent of mental culpability, and she not held for an illegal omission to make her liable for prosecution.”
“This court has nothing to do with the magistrate’s order,” the judge said, adding that the magistrate had “correctly” judged the evidence.
