(ANSA) - NEW DELHI, 25 JAN - The nightmare for Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty has ended after 15 years, cleared of the accusation of obscenity and indecency for being kissed by Richard Gere during a fundraiser for the 'Aids.
The gesture had unleashed the fury of radical Hindu groups who had set fire to the images of the two actors in the squares and had led a magistrate to indict both of them.
The accusation against Gere was dismissed in a short time: the star, one of the best known Buddhists in the world, had obtained permission from the Delhi government to return to the country to meet the Dalai Lama.
But the notorious quicksand of the Indian judicial system dragged the case against Shetty until last week when a Mumbai judge called the charges "baseless".
"Shetty was the victim of Gere's exuberance, who, while on stage, kissed her repeatedly," writes the magistrate in the sentence, made public today.
The actress, now 47, was also a victim of racist mobbing while working on the British reality show Celebrity Big Brother.
(HANDLE).