Richard Gere, Shilpa Shetty & The Court – The Kiss of Contradiction!
I didn’t want to write on this. But our courts have been coming with some stunning judgments of late that I can only keep wondering more and more. The Jaipur High Court has issued arrest warrants against Richard Gere and Shilpa Shetty for doing a Public Kiss as an act of obscenity.The court was legally correct. However, this decision falls into Obscenity category. Let me try and understand what Obscenity is defined as according to Supreme Court…hmm…hmm…hmm…after loads of research I found this, Supreme Court lawyer, Alpana Podda says that Indian Law doesn’t have any clear cut definition on this. Oh great this Supreme Court must be ignorant or is speaking the truth. Assuming that, what the lawyer says is the truth, then on what basis did Jaipur Court issue warrants against Shilpa Shetty and Richard Gere.
And if it was an act of obscenity, then why aren’t the organizers of the show not issued any warrants? Just because it was unplanned, or because their names have been excluded have been missing in the complaint. Also, if it was obscene, whether the complaint define what exact sentiments did the act hurt?
If it were an obscene act, why isn’t media also issued arrest warrant for shamelessly promoting the ‘kiss’. Also why was there no arrest warrant against those who enjoyed and saw the kiss…like the lorry drivers who encourage Richard Gere when he kissed Shilpa Shetty?
No, there will be no answers. But these are the questions that will be asked, because otherwise people might wonder what is a peck, what is a kiss, what is an act of obscenity or what is grabbing attention.