New Delhi - The Indian judiciary has transferred a judge who recently issued an arrest warrant against Hollywood star Richard Gere for kissing actor Shilpa Shetty at a public function in New Delhi, a newspaper reported Thursday. The Times of India reported that Dinesh Gupta, a magistrate in Jaipur city, was shifted to another court in the north-western state of Rajasthan after the country's legal luminaries slammed him for behaving like the Taliban moral police and seeking "cheap publicity."
Rajasthan High Court Registrar CP Singh told the paper that Gupta last week acted on a "frivolous" public interest litigation and was given the transfer orders on Wednesday - a move that debars him from hearing the case any further.
Singh did not spell out the reasons behind the decision but said it was done at the behest of Rajasthan's top judge, Sachidanand Jha.
Gere's onstage kiss during an AIDS awareness function on April 15 led to protests by conservative Hindu nationalists and Muslim groups in New Delhi, Mumbai and other cities who said that kissing in public was indecent and against Indian culture.
During the event, Gere hugged Shetty tightly on the stage, bent her over and kissed her repeatedly on the cheek. Organizers described it as an unplanned and harmless song-and-dance spoof intended to entertain and show that kissing alone does not spread AIDS.
Shetty also asserted that she had not been offended and had no problems with Gere.
But Gupta admitted a litigation filed by local lawyer Poonam Chand Bhandari which alleged that Shetty and Gere had acted in an obscene manner in public. He issued the arrest warrant, saying the episode was "sexually erotic" and an "indecent representation of passion."
Gupta's decision drew flak from India's top lawyers who said it was contrary to the country's judicial norms.
"Magistrates should not behave like the Taliban moral police," former attorney general, Soli J Sorabjee told the Times earlier. "The order is unsustainable and makes us look ridiculous," Sorabjee said.
"This order is an act of judicial indecency. This is only for cheap public publicity and the magistrate and the lawyer should be restrained," said another senior lawyer, Dushyant Dave.
