Mumbai | A woman being groped on a street or public transport cannot be termed as "participative" on her part in such incidents and she cannot be prosecuted for failing to act, a Mumbai court has held in the 2007 obscenity case over Hollywood star Richard Gere kissing actor Shilpa Shetty at a public event.

In the present case, the respondent (Shetty) had not kissed, but was kissed. Obscenity on her part is not evident, Additional Sessions Judge S C Jadhav said last week while upholding a magistrate court's order discharging Bollywood actor Shetty in the case. The detailed order was made available on Tuesday.

In 2007, Gere had killed Shetty on her cheeks when they had come together on stage for an AIDS awareness programme in Rajasthan.

The prosecution had said there was ample evidence against the accused (Shetty) to frame charges under IPC section 292 for obscenity, provisions of the Information Technology Act and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, and prayed for setting aside the magistrate's order.

However, Shilpa Shetty, represented by advocate Prashant Patil, opposed the plea saying the lower court's order was "proper and a legal one".

There is no material to frame charges and therefore, there is no perversity in the impugned order. Hence, the revision application needs to be dismissed with heavy cost, Patil argued.