Court orders arrest for "obscene" kiss

An Indian court ordered the arrest of Hollywood star Richard Gere Thursday for kissing Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty at an AIDS campaign event this month saying it was an obscene act committed in public. Gere's repeated kisses on Shetty's cheeks at an event to promote AIDS awareness in New Delhi sparked protests in some parts of India, mostly by Hindu vigilante groups, who saw it as an outrage against her modesty and an affront to Indian culture. The order by a court in the northern city of Jaipur came in response to a complaint by a local lawyer. The judge watched a video recording of Gere kissing Shetty and found him guilty of violating Indian laws against public obscenity, the lawyer, Poonam Chand Bhandari, said. Many commentators had subsequently expressed their unhappiness at what they said were fringe groups making a mountain of a harmless peck on the cheek.