Shilpa 'harassed' at Mumbai airport

Shilpa 'harassed' at Mumbai airport

MUMBAI: Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty said she felt humiliated at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International airport in Mumbai on Wednesday when an inspector in the Immigration Department spoke rudely to her. She was travelling to Germany for her West End musical 'Miss Bollywood', premiering in Berlin this weekend.

It may be recalled that after actor Richard Gere planted pecks on Shilpa's cheeks at an AIDS awareness event in New Delhi a couple of months ago, some people unhappy about his public display of affection, filed cases against her in various courts of India. But when the Supreme Court gave a directive to transfer these cases to the Mumbai court, 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 that the actress shouldn't be allowed to leave the country till the Richard Gere-Shilpa Shetty case was over. When Shilpa appealed to the Supreme Court against this, the order was quashed by the said court, and the actress was given permission to travel abroad. "This happened around three months ago, but the immigration authorities at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, just seem to refuse taking note of this clearance of Shilpa's name by the Supreme Court," said her spokesperson Dale Bhagwagar.

The actress once again faced the brunt of the immigration authorities this week while travelling with her dance troupe that included 50 British and Russian dancers and technicians to Germany. She had a 2.15 am departure, by British Airways to Berlin via London, when she faced this harrowing experience at the airport.

"She 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, spoken to her in an absolute rude and uncalled manner, and gruffly told her, she could not travel out of the country as there was no clearance order from the court," said Bhagwagar.

"This is not a lone incident. From the past few months, every time Shilpa travels out of the country, the immigration authorities hassle her. So much so that one could think, they get some kind of sadistic pleasure in doing so," he added. "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?" Bhagwagar asks. "I know that they (immigration personnel) were doing their duty, but there is certain decorum to be maintained, even when one is doing his duty," Shilpa told Bhagwagar over the phone, just before catching her flight.
Original Source from The Times of India