Shilpa Shetty detained, grilled at Mumbai airport

Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty was once again subjected to detention and questioning at the Mumbai airport.

On the night of September 25, 2007, Shilpa was at the Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai to fly to Germany with her troupe of dancers and choreographers, numbering about 50, to perform for her musical Miss Bollywood, premiering in Berlin on September 29, 2007.

At the airport, Shilpa Shetty was detained by the immigration authorities in an isolated room for at least half an hour while the rest of her team were allowed to go.

This apparently happened because of a ‘look-out notice,’ generally issued in criminal cases and served at exit points of the country, issued by a court in Rajasthan, disallowing her from flying out of the country. The look-out notice is in connection with a case over an on-stage kissing episode involving Shilpa Shetty and Hollywood actor Richard Gere.

Richard Gere had kissed Shilpa on her cheeks at an AIDS awareness event held in New Delhi a few months ago. A few people who were unhappy about his public display of affection filed cases against Shilpa in various courts in India. But when the Supreme Court gave a directive to transfer these cases to a court in Mumbai, most of the complainants backed out.

However, by that time, a court in Alwar district of Rajasthan had issued a ‘look-out notice’ for Shilpa at various airports through the police. The notice said Shilpa Shetty should not be allowed to leave the country till the ‘kissing case’ was over.

Shilpa Shetty challenged the Alwar court’s order in the Supreme Court, which quashed the order and permitted her to travel abroad.

However, the Supreme Court’s permission does not seem to have reached the airports yet, and officials were not sure whether or not she be allowed to fly out of the country.

Shilpa Shetty was not carrying the Supreme Court’s permission with her, either.

After being interrogated for about 30 minutes, the immigration officials allowed her to fly out.

Shilpa and her mother Sunanda were visible angry after the incident.

Earlier, in June 2007, when Shilpa was flying to the United Kingdom, the same problem had cropped up and she was subjected to questioning by the immigration officials.

“Shilpa called me in the middle of the night and was in tears as an Inspector by the name of P Deshmukh had treated her badly, who gruffly told her she could not travel out of the country as there was no clearance order from the court,” her publicist Dale Bhagwagar later said.

He added: “This is not the sole incident. In the last few months, every time Shilpa travels out of the country, immigration authorities harass her. So much so that one would think they get some kind of sadistic pleasure in doing so. Is she expected to carry a copy of the Supreme Court order all her life? Will the authorities take decades to note the court development?”

Shilpa Shetty remarked of her detention at the airport: “I know that the immigration personnel were doing their duty, but there is a certain decorum to be maintained, even when one is doing his duty. I can understand something like this if I’d committed a criminal offence. But what was my offence? I’m an actor, going to perform a musical in a foreign land, representing my country. I don’t need to be treated like this in my own country! It’s terrible! It’s shocking!”