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This would not be a good time for Richard Gere to revisit India. There’s a warrant for his arrest. What did he do? He kissed India’s leading lady, Shilpa Shetty, during an AIDS-awareness event in New Delhi. All that took place out in the open, in front of the news media and others who craned for a glimpse of these two glamorous actors staging a worthy extravaganza.

Apparently, Gere failed to read the “Thank You For Not Kissing” signs posted across the country.

Extremists over there started rioting for what they termed lewd behavior. A court in Jaipur wants Gere to present himself before a magistrate, and Shetty also faces charges, though anyone who has seen the footage can attest that Shetty demurred and wanted no part of Gere’s public display of affection.

India’s “Bollywood” turns out more movies than our own Hollywood and it’s doubtful that most citizens of that great democracy support the moralistic and legalistic hysteria -- like this reaction from former attorney general Soli Sorabjee: “Magistrates should not behave like the Taliban moral police. The [arrest] order is unsustainable and makes us look ridiculous.”

Gere has apologized for his disorderly exuberance and Shetty continues to be burned in effigy. In one particular hot spot, Meerut, mobs have been chanting “Down with Shetty.” They want her movies banned. That probably won’t happen in movie-crazed India, where Shetty is a film goddess. Obviously, though, she’ll never eat lunch in that town again.

Shetty tried to calm the protesters by saying that kissing derives from Gere’s culture, not her culture:

“I understand people’s sentiments,” she said, “but I don’t want a foreigner to take back bad memories from here.”

Planting a kiss is not the same as planting a bomb and should be appreciated as a welcome distraction in a world gone mad -- or so you’d think.

This really isn’t about India as much as it is about a world that’s gone topsy-turvy. Mickey Mouse, anyone? Hamas has been broadcasting a Mickey Mouse look-alike to recruit Arab kindergarten children into the business of murdering Israelis – Jews and Christians. Is there no end to depravity? All this from Hamas in Gaza, the same Gaza that Israel handed over as a concession to peace. (We're told that this Mickey Mouse show has been pulled by the PA, Too late. Damage done, and those PA textbooks still carry the same message of hate.)

Gere is a practicing Buddhist, an adherent of the Dalai Lama, whose message is international harmony and interfaith healing. India generally encompasses those virtues and is famed as a literate nation that values inclusiveness and tolerance. So all that feverish denunciation (by only a fringe of the population) is truly an exception for India, not the rule

Those of us who’ve seen the (now disgraced) footage can only wonder what Gere (once dubbed the sexiest man alive) could have been thinking. He was indeed overly affectionate. Is that a crime? Yes, if you do it in some dark alley, but not when you’re promoting AIDS-awareness in front of the whole world.

He was only trying to make love, not war, and must still be mystified that his gesture backfired.

Who knows if there’s an extradition treaty between the United States and India for the crime of kissing, which could lead to dancing, and in fact, here’s part of Gere’s apology: “My clumsy attempt at a ‘Shall We Dance’ move was a naïve misread of Indian culture, and I assure you, nothing more.”

Can’t happen here, you say, this brand of moral outrage? Okay, back at the office, try this: “Hi, Deborah.. Love your new dress, and you look sensational today.”

Go ahead.