Shilpa Shetty being sued for Richard Gere ‘kiss’ shows how society blames women for everything

Long, long ago in 2007 when women empowerment wasn’t huge, feminism wasn’t a commonly used buzzword and the laws against sexual harassment were not as stringent, actress Shilpa Shetty Kundra , who had shot to fame after winning Celebrity Big Brother UK, was sexually molested in broad daylight by Hollywood A-lister and actor, Richard Gere . It was at an AIDS awareness event in Delhi where Gere grabbed Shetty and gave her a hug - while Shetty laughed and continued to play it cool. Despite Shetty being very, very uncomfortable, Gere continued with his advances and went ahead to forcefully kiss her - which made for some very uncomfortable viewing. What happened next? If this was 2022 India, Gere would be behind bars and face consequences for violating a woman’s consent and outraging her modesty. 2007 India though, was different. What followed was protests where the effigies of Shetty and Gere were burned. Aftermath of The Kiss: A Legal Battle Multiple complaints were filed against Shetty and Gere on grounds of obscenity in Kanpur, Ghaziabad, and Varanasi, besides Bhopal, Indore, Jaipur, Mumbai and Delhi. The Supreme Court stayed all the proceedings as per a report in The Print - however, the matter reached court six years later in 2017. Finally, in January 2022, the SC cleared Shetty of the charges in one of the complaints, however, decisions on two more complaints were pending. The actress is yet to fight the case in a High Court and a lower court. In her judgement, the Magistrate said, “I am satisfied that the charge against the present accused i.e. Shilpa Shetty is groundless.” Ideally, Shilpa’s trouble should have come to an end after this, but Alwar police approached the sessions court in April, stressing that the 47-year-old’s role in ‘allowing to be kissed in public’ was obscene and the magistrate erred with her judgement. The plea by Alwar police also said that a prima facie case had been made out against the actress. Shilpa Fights Back In reply to the Alwar Police’s plea, the actress’ advocate Prashant Patil filed an appeal to discharge her from the obscenity case, according to The Times Of India. In the application, her lawyer said that the only allegation against Shetty-Kundra is that she did not protest when she was kissed by the ‘co-accused’, Hollywood actor Richard Gere. The plea stated that this doesn’t make her a conspirator or perpetrator of any crime and the complainant’s reason to approach the court was ‘cheap publicity’. Shilpa, via her lawyer, claimed that she retains her right to separately file criminal proceedings against the original complainant for malicious intent and civil damages. “Heavy costs may kindly be ordered against the original complainant…,” the reply read. While the legal battle is only getting tougher and more complicated, one cannot help but laud Shetty for standing her ground and not allowing the bullying and intimidation tactics of the complainant break her spirit. Victim blaming and sexism What was particularly disturbing about the horrifying incident which happened in broad daylight, was the fact that it was met with applause and hooting by those present at the event. None of the reactions seemed to be those of shock or disgust. The sheer audacity of the complainants to accuse Shetty, who was sexually harassed in broad daylight, of ‘obscenity’ over a kiss she never consented to in the first place, shows just how quick Indian society is to blame women for literally everything. That’s not all - Alwar police said that Shilpa ‘allowing to be kissed in public’ shows obscenity. What’s really obscene is the tendency of the complainants and the police to victim-blame and shame a woman who was publicly assaulted. To call it disturbing, would really be an understatement. The case also highlights how men, can literally get away with anything - even sexual abuse but the woman, who was sexually assaulted is blamed for the ‘obscene’ act. Gere, who has acted in films like Pretty Woman, had an arrest warrant issued on his name as per NBC News report, but quickly apologized saying that he ‘wanted to show kissing is safe and wouldn’t lead to transfer of HIV’ - yes, you read that right - Richard Gere, the quintessential American actor had the audacity to sexually assault a woman in front of the media and justify it citing HIV transmission. To call this disgusting would, again, be an understatement. Gere should have ideally faced jail time for this unacceptable act and deserves to get cancelled for his creepy behaviour. Ironically, Shilpa, who was sexually assaulted has to constantly defend herself and justify ‘the kiss’ (a molestation attempt) in court. Do our honourable courts and police know just how damaging and traumatic it can be for a woman who got sexually assaulted in public and blamed for it to justify the act and defend herself legally after years? The media, complainants, police and most of all, Gere owes Shilpa an apology. Gere-Shilpa legal case doesn’t seem like it will end anytime soon. However, it is Shilpa who has faced the brunt of the incident psychologically and legally and not just Gere but the world owes her a heartfelt apology. More power to you, Shilpa! Deepansh Duggal is an entertainment, pop-culture and trends writer based in New Delhi. He specializes in op-eds based on the socio-political and gender issues in the world of entertainment and showbiz. He also writes explainers and occasionally reviews shows in the OTT space. He tweets at @Deepansh75.  Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.