SC to hear tomorrow petition filed by Shilpa on obscenity case

New Delhi, May 14 (UNI) The Supreme Court will hear tomorrow the petition filed by Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty seeking transfer to Mumbai of three cases pending against her for publicly allowing Richard Gere, a Hollywood actor, to kiss her allegedly amounting to obscenity in public place.

Subordinate courts at Jaipur, Alwar and Ghaziabad have issued summons to her. Shilpa has urged for the stay of the proceedings pending at the courts at Jaipur, Alwar and Ghaziabad.

The petition filed by Shilpa came up today before a bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices R V Raveeendran and Lokeshwar Singh Paonta for urgent hearing on the grounds that cases at different places have been filed against her to harass her and it will not be physically possible to run around different states for facing prosecution for the same offence which according to her is not an offence at all.

Shilpa has urged in her petition that it will be in the interest of justice to consolidate and transfer all the complaints filed against her to Mumbai court where the alleged offence has taken place.

Gere has publicly apologised for what he did at a function organised to help the AIDS patients while Shilpa had chosen to defend him by claiming that he had done nothing wrong.

The complainants feel that such display of obscenity at a public function violated the ethos of Indian culture and an offence of indulging in obscene gesture at a public place creating public nuisance is clearly made out against Shilpa and Gere.

UNI