Gere faces Indian arrest warrant

[SunWuKong]

guess he won't be visiting the Dalai Lama anytime soon. dumbass.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6596163.stm

Gere faces Indian arrest warrant

An Indian court has issued an arrest warrant for Hollywood actor Richard Gere after he kissed Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty in public.

Gere, 57, kissed Shetty, 31, several times on the cheek at an Aids awareness event in Delhi earlier this month.

The court in Jaipur in Rajasthan state called it "an obscene act", after a local lawyer filed a complaint.

It was not immediately clear how the warrant could affect Gere, who is a frequent visitor to India.

Shetty, who found fame outside India as the winner of Celebrity Big Brother in the UK, has also been asked to appear before the court.

Photographs of the clinch were splashed across front pages of newspapers in India.

Public displays of affection are still largely taboo in India, and protestors in Mumbai (Bombay) set fire to effigies of Gere following the incident.

Dance scene

Shetty has defended Gere saying that it was all done "in good humour".

"He especially told me to tell the media that he didn't want to hurt any Indian sensibilities," she said.

She said Gere had only been re-enacting a scene from his film Shall We Dance.

Under Indian law, a person convicted of public obscenity faces up to three months in prison, a fine or both.

Gere, star of films such as Chicago and Pretty Woman, is a Buddhist and travels to India frequently to visit the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in the north of the country.

[USCTrojanzNo1]

This is just the media blowing things out of proportion. While I understand that kissing in public is generally against the law in India (you can even go to jail for this!!!!), I was under the impression that it was no worse than an infraction or a petty offense (e.g., jaywalking, loitering, littering, noise violation, etc.).

In the end, Gere won't go to jail. But he will probably be cited for this and will have to pay a fine b/c he technically did break the law (kissing in public is an "improper behavior" or "disorderly conduct" kinda offense).

[mr. x]

sheesh, how can he have spent so much time there and NOT have known this taboo

[eos]

americans just have the mentality that they can do whatever the fuck they want cuz they're americans. not every country is so free with their liberties as we are. remember that dude that got caned for chewing gum in, which country was it again? anyway, you act like a jackass, you get treated like one. hey, i was born and raised here, but i don't go to other countries and act like an ass. i respect local customs and laws. if more americans did this while traveling abroad, maybe people wouldn't hate us so damn much.

[USCTrojanzNo1]

While i certainly agree that Richard Gere needs to be reprimanded, I still think that this is being blown out of proportion. Gere was no doubt careless, but then again, so are most jaywalkers, loiterers, litterers, speeders, trespassers, etc. Richard Gere broke the law and he deserves to be fined for this, but I think that the media in India making him a criminal for something petty like this is ludicrous. I honestly think that Gere did it because it was lapse of judgment, but overall, he did not mean to cause any trouble.

Not that I am a lawyer (not yet), but if I were to advise Richard Gere, I'd tell him to apologize and take the consequences. Hopefully he'll learn from this and be more discrete next time in obeying laws and customs. This is no different than somebody violating a municipal ordinance by having the music on too loud. At worst, I see this as an infraction or petty offense (then again, I'm no expert in India's laws so perhaps they take this more seriously there).

Just my honest opinion.

[yoMAMA]

so now two asian countries are off limits to rg.

[SunWuKong]

americans just have the mentality that they can do whatever the fuck they want cuz they're americans. not every country is so free with their liberties as we are. remember that dude that got caned for chewing gum in, which country was it again? anyway, you act like a jackass, you get treated like one. hey, i was born and raised here, but i don't go to other countries and act like an ass. i respect local customs and laws. if more americans did this while traveling abroad, maybe people wouldn't hate us so damn much.

it was in Singapore, and that kid spray painted something, like a car or something. the funny thing is that just about every white person i've ever talked about that incident with, he or she thinks the kid deserved the caning.

but anyway, a lot of American tourists act like jackasses overseas, doing and saying whatever the hell they want. i can only imagine that a rich celebrity like Richard Gere would be even worse, since rich celebrities tend to act like jackasses even in the US and even for American standards.

[AgentTofu]

Michael Fay was just an 18 year old, but his exploits were ridiculous.

Burning effigies? Arrest warrants? For this? India is the one looking ridiculous and backwards on this one.

[CBC guy]

americans just have the mentality that they can do whatever the fuck they want cuz they're americans. not every country is so free with their liberties as we are. remember that dude that got caned for chewing gum in, which country was it again? anyway, you act like a jackass, you get treated like one. hey, i was born and raised here, but i don't go to other countries and act like an ass. i respect local customs and laws. if more americans did this while traveling abroad, maybe people wouldn't hate us so damn much.

That country you mentioned was Singapore.

And not ALL Americans who travel act like that, but a few of them give the rest a bad name.

[eos]

of course i know not ALL americans do this. but ENOUGH do it so that non-americans despise us and think we're all ignorant pigs.

[sageb1]

Was it fanatical Hindu protestors who burned effigies or Muslims?

If the former, then one of their followers assassinated Gandhi. Muslims wouldn't dare do that because Hindu fanatics would burn their 'hood down.

These same fanatical Hindus precipitated the violence against Sikhs in 1984, all because the Sikhs were stealing electricity for their temple.

Meanwhile public spin claims Sikh "terrorists" were resisting Hindu police and stockpiling weapons etc.

However, prior to the attack on the temple, militant Hindu fanatics were targetting Sikhs, creating a siege mentality among the Sikhs.

In the Sikhs' eyes, the oppression by the Muslims now is replaced by opression by Hindu fanatics.

Gee, the world's oldest democracy once again shows us what religious fanaticism can do to abuse democracy.

This aint any different from "honor killings" in Muslim countries in that women and foreigners are demonized by another group of fanatics.

[SunWuKong]

i actually agree that this makes India look ridiculous. but i don't like Richard Gere anyway so fuck him.

[Vedic_Warrior]

Was it fanatical Hindu protestors who burned effigies or Muslims?

If the former, then one of their followers assassinated Gandhi. Muslims wouldn't dare do that because Hindu fanatics would burn their 'hood down.

These same fanatical Hindus precipitated the violence against Sikhs in 1984, all because the Sikhs were stealing electricity for their temple.

Meanwhile public spin claims Sikh "terrorists" were resisting Hindu police and stockpiling weapons etc.

However, prior to the attack on the temple, militant Hindu fanatics were targetting Sikhs, creating a siege mentality among the Sikhs.

In the Sikhs' eyes, the oppression by the Muslims now is replaced by opression by Hindu fanatics.

Gee, the world's oldest democracy once again shows us what religious fanaticism can do to abuse democracy.

This aint any different from "honor killings" in Muslim countries in that women and foreigners are demonized by another group of fanatics.

First of all, India is the world's LARGEST democracy, not OLDEST.

Secondly, Narautham Godse (Gandhi's assasin) was not a fanatic. He simply didn't agree with Gandhi and decided that assasination was the only way to stop him. When the medical exam was taken on Godse's sanity, he came up as being entirely rational and sane. Also, it wasn't a religiously motivated killing either. The assasination was done entirely off the basis of a difference in views on public policy.

Thirdly, Operation Blue Star (the 1984 raid on the Golden Temple) was conducted by the Punjab police in conjunction with the Indian Army. No fanatics were involved. In fact, the person in charge of executing Operation Blue Star (General Brar) was a Sikh himself and even visited the Golden Temple the day before to bargain for a peaceful surrender. However, Jernail Binderwale and his followers (who were indeed fanatics) refused to cooperate. If anything, Binderwale and his followers are solely responsible for Operation Blue Star, as they would continually shoot police officers and other officials in Punjab and then would run into gurdwaras and hide where polic couldn't touch them. Its also well documented that Binderwale recieved arms and financial backing from Pakistan's ISI.

It helps to know your history before you make assumptions.

[thaite]

i actually agree that this makes India look ridiculous. but i don't like Richard Gere anyway so fuck him.

That's pretty much how I feel about it.