Kiss could land Gere in prison

An Indian court ordered the arrest of Hollywood star Richard Gere on Thursday for repeatedly kissing Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty at an AIDS campaign event, saying it was an obscene act committed in public.

Gere’s kisses on Shetty’s cheeks at an event to promote AIDS awareness in New Delhi last week 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 of Gere kissing Shetty and found him guilty of violating Indian laws against public obscenity, said the lawyer, Poonam Chand Bhandari. The court summoned Shetty to appear on May 5, Bhandari said, adding that Gere also was ordered arrested.

Gere, the 57-year-old star of such films as “Pretty Woman” and “An Officer and a Gentleman,” can be sent to prison for up to three months or fined or both. He is not in India now.

Alan Nierob, a Los Angeles-based spokesman for Gere, said the actor had no comment on the incident or the ruling. He said Gere was home in New York and had resumed work promoting his latest film, “The Hoax.”

Gere is a devout Buddhist and a vocal supporter of the Tibetan cause. He visits India frequently to meet the Dalai Lama.

Shetty, the winner of the “Celebrity Big Brother” reality TV show in Britain this year, had said the kiss may have gone a “little overboard” but was not obscene and the protests made India look regressive. She said Gere was only reenacting his moves from the film “Shall We Dance?” to entertain the audience at the AIDS event and to communicate in a Bollywood style, as he did not speak Hindi.