A woman who is groped on street is not accused: Mumbai Court while discharging Shilpa Shetty in Richard Gere kissing incident

A woman who is groped on the street is a victim and cannot be termed an accused, a Mumbai court said while discharging Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty in an obscenity case registered against her after she was kissed on stage by Hollywood actor Richard Gere at a promotional event in Rajasthan in 2007..Sessions judge SC Jadhav said that Shetty had not kissed Gere but was kissed by him and so the obscenity was not on Shetty's part.“A woman being groped on the street or touched on a public way or in public transport cannot be termed as accused or participative to an extent of mental culpability and she cannot be held for illegal omission to make her liable for prosecution,” the judge said.Judge Jadahav, therefore, upheld the order of a Magistrate discharging Shetty in the case..“An act per se indecent and obscene would not prosecution under Section 294 of the Indian Penal Code in absence of prima facie material of annoyance by any of the persons. It is unsaid fact that the present respondent had not kissed but was kissed. Obscenity on her part is not evident. There is nothing on record to elaborate on the prima facie evidence of annoyance by complainant” the Court said in its 11-page order..The judge also opined that the victim against whom the crime had been committed could not be made an accused..The complaint was filed in 2007 before a Judicial Magistrate First Class in Mundawar, Rajasthan seeking registration of a case against Shetty and Gere.The Magistrate had allowed the same and the accused were booked for offences under Sections 292, 293, 294 (obscenity) of the Indian Penal Code, along with provisions of Information Technology and Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act..Shetty’s plea to transfer the case to Mumbai was allowed by Supreme Court in 2017, after which the complaint and the transfer case came to be heard by the metropolitan magistrate at Ballard Pier, Mumbai. Magistrate Ketaki Chavan discharged Shetty in January 2022, opining that Shetty seemed to have been a victim of the act by the Gere, who is the main accused in the case..This order was challenged by the State of Maharashtra before the sessions court which was dismissed by the judge on April 3, 2023. “There is absolutely no prima facie material to proceed with the trial. As such, the order does not require any interference at the hands of this court. The Metropolitan Magistrate has rightly considered the material placed before her. Criminal Revision Application deserves to be dismissed,” the sessions judge held..[Read order]