BOMBAY, INDIA – Ten years after it booked super models Madhu Sapre and Milind Soman on charges of alleged obscenity, the Maharashtra government has filed an application before a metropolitan court for withdrawal of charges against them. The state has also asked for withdrawal of charges against the six other accused parties in the case. In the application filed on June 1, the state said that there was no prima facie case against any of the accused and hence it should be withdrawn, said Sapre’s lawyer Dipesh Mehta.

The case is now listed for hearing on later today, June 8.

The advertisment for shoes featuring Sapre and Soman with a python draped around them, sparked a public outcry after it appeared in leading publications in 1995. Social organisations approached police, and charges were filed against Soman, Sapre and six others which included the photographers, publishers and editors who printed the advertisment.