BOMBAY, India (AP) -- Bombay's fashion designers have been warned to ensure that their dresses don't come undone on the ramp or they could be slapped with obscenity charges.
The government of western Maharashtra state said Tuesday it had completed an inquiry into two cases of "indecent and obscene" exposure on Bombay's fashion catwalks and declared they were accidental.
"The models took care to cover themselves up. We have conducted an inquiry and we have found that it was not deliberate. It was purely an accident," said R. R. Patil, state home minister.
Last week, a model's sequined top came off and the zip on another's skirt came undone while they walked the ramp during a fashion show in Bombay.
The models continued to walk the ramp -- the first yanked her straying blouse back on and the second held the back of her skirt together.
Designers Bennu Sehgal and Lascelles Symons described the incidents as accidents that sometimes occur at fashion shows.
The complaint was raised by representatives of the state's right-wing opposition party, the Shiv Sena, who said they believed both incidents were deliberate and demanded a government probe.
"Nonsense like this is taking place under the guise of fashion shows," said Pramod Navalkar, a Shiv Sena official and legislative council member on Tuesday. "I have my doubts about this being an accident. I think it was all pre-planned for publicity."
"Designers must know that the government is vigilant and will be on the watch out for any more such incidents," Navalkar said.
A person can face up to two years in prison if found guilty of obscenity.
Both incidents were widely covered by India's media, which splashed photographs on the front-pages of newspapers and repeatedly replayed television footage of the incident while blurring out the nudity.
"It was a pure accident. Too much is being made out of it," said designer Sehgal. She said the large media presence at the fashion show was the cause for blowing the accidents out of proportion.
"Some fabric got entangled in the zipper and that caused the zip to give way," said Symons, a former model himself. He said this was not the sort of publicity designers would court.
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