NEW DELHI – A court issued arrest warrants for Hollywood actor Richard Gere and Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty on Thursday, saying their kiss at a public function “transgressed all limits of vulgarity,” media reports said.
Judge Dinesh Gupta issued the warrants in the northwestern city of Jaipur after a local citizen filed a complaint, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
Gere embraced Shetty and kissed her several times on her cheeks during an HIV-AIDS awareness event in the Indian capital.
Gupta viewed television footage of the event, which he called “highly sexually erotic,” saying the pair violated India’s strict public obscenity laws.
Gere left India shortly after the incident and it was not clear how the warrant would affect him. His publicist, Alan Nierob, said there would be no comment from the actor.
The judge ordered Shetty to appear in court May 5, PTI said.
Under Indian law, a person convicted of public obscenity faces up to three months in prison, a fine or both.
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