Richard Gere laid on wet one on the cheek of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty and now charges have been filed against them. Some very uptight lawyers are accusing them of committing “an obscene act” in a public place. Attorneys are also filing suits against television channels for showing the incident, which took place during an AIDS awareness event in New Delhi this week.

Speaking of uptight—angry crowds actually burned effigies of Gere in several Indian cities. In a country where public displays of affection are taboo, photos of the peck on the front pages of newspapers across India outraged people so that they took to the streets. These pockets of protests prompted the legal complaints to be filed.

In a country where longstanding religious differences have caused major problems between sects, and where starvation, disease, and a lack of literacy are rampant, you’d think they’d have more important things to protest about. Do the people of India need to lighten up, or what?!?

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