Apparently your country having the highest number of people infected with the deadly AIDs virus (count’em — 5.7 million people infected with AIDs in India alone) is not nearly as important as throwing Richard Gere and Shilpa Shetty in jail for up to three months to the good people of India. Or at least, to the Indian Judicial System, which has just issued arrest warrants for both Gere and Shetty for “contravening the country’s public obscenity law” by dipping and then kissing her on the cheek during a recent AIDs-awareness event in India. This resulted in Gere’s effigy being burned and official complaints filed in court. Yikes.
More from the Guardian Unlimited:
Gere has already left India. However, he has previously been a frequent visitor to the country, often visiting Tibetan exiles in the northern town of Dharmsala as a supporter of their cause.
If convicted of public obscenity he theoretically faces up to three months in prison, a fine or both.
Shetty, who became famous in Britain through her appearance on Celebrity Big Brother earlier this year, appealed for calm after the incident, telling reporters that Gere had asked her to say he was “sorry if he has hurt the sentiments of Indian people”.
I don’t know what’s more insane, that India has 5.7 million people infected with AIDs, or that their movies are drenched with sex and gratuitous flashing of skin, but no one is allowed to kiss onscreen.
In case you still don’t get it, this is the timeline of what happened:
It started with this:
Which lead to this:
Which started this:
And which will most likely end with this:
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