Looks like Richard Gere can go back to India, after all. After almost a year of facing charges should he return to the country following his scandalous sweeping kiss of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty at a public AIDS awareness event, the charges have been suspended.

India’s top court, led by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice R. V. Raveendran, indefinitely stayed the arrest warrant issued against the actor last April in the northwestern Indian city of Jaipur.

“Gere is allowed to come and leave,” said Shilpa’s attorney, Anil Grover, “He can’t be arrested.”

At the AIDS awareness event last April 15, the Pretty Woman star hugged and kissed the Bollywood actress on her cheek, leading Hindu hard-liners to charge that the pair had offended the sensibilities of India’s traditionally conservative culture. The charges, however, have really inspired little more than indifference among the Indian population, leading to them being stayed, though Gere — a frequent visitor to the country and a champion of human rights in neighboring Tibet — did apologize profusely after the incident.

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