New Delhi, March 10: Hollywood actor Richard Gere's
plea seeking stay of his arrest warrant in connection with the
kissing row involving actress Shilpa Shetty would be taken up
by the Supreme Court on Friday.
The apex court on Monday accepted Gere's plea for an urgent
hearing on the matter in view of his scheduled meeting with
the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama in India on March 21.
A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan accepted
the plea of senior advocate Indira Jaisinh, appearing for
actor-cum-anti-aids campaigner Gere, to grant urgent hearing
as the existence of the arrest warrant may come in the way of
the actor's scheduled meeting with the Dalai Lama.
The court on February 11 had issued a notice to the
complainant on whose plea a Jaipur court had issued the arrest
warrant to Gere.
The court had also sought a response from the Rajasthan
government after Jaisinh had said that the actor was ready to
submit to the courts' jurisdiction in India.
She had said the warrant was issued after the actor had
left the country. The Jaipur court had restrained him from
leaving the country.
The complaint was filed by Jaipur resident Poonam
Chandra Bhandari. Her advocate during the last hearing had
questioned the relief sought by Gere contending that he had
filed his application on the pending petition of Shetty in
which he was a respondent.
The apex court had already stayed the arrest warrant
issued against Shetty and had also issued notice on her plea
to transfer the case to a Mumbai court.
Hollywood actor in his application said that he was
being harassed and victimized by way of private criminal
complaints filed against him in Jaipur and Mundawar in
Rajasthan, which were nothing but bids to attract media
attention.
Bureau Report
