A POPULAR actress has been pelted with sandals, tomatoes and rotten eggs for telling Indian men not to expect their brides to be virgins any more.

Khushboo, 35, has also been hauled before a court, banned from making any further public comments or giving interviews and released on bail of £60.

The married mother of two from southern India caused an outcry after telling a magazine there was nothing wrong with pre-marital sex - as long as it was protected sex.

As a result, conservative political and community groups have staged rowdy demonstrations and filed more than two dozen defamation and public-interest suits, including one accusing her of "corrupting innocence".

The row has also engulfed the 19-year-old tennis player Sania Mirza, already under an Islamic fatwa for wearing skirts on court. She stormed out of a news conference on Sunday when pressed on her reported support for what Khushboo said.

Initially, the actress's comments went unnoticed, but a week after the magazine was published, the Tamil-language Sun TV, based in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, ran a story about film industry outrage.

Sun may not be an entirely disinterested party; it dominated Tamil television without a rival for 15 years, until Khushboo came along, hosting a game-show on the rival Jaya network that quickly became the most popular Tamil show.

Even the finance minister has been grilled by journalists for his opinion, sidestepping specifics but backing free speech. The Indian Formula 1 driver Narain Karthikeyan and Miss Universe, Russia's Natalie Glebanova, have also come out in support.

Newspapers initially said that Mirza, who is ranked number 31 at tennis in the world and also from south India, had backed Khushboo, but the Muslim teenager quickly denied saying any such thing.

"I will like to say clearly on record that I cannot possibly justify pre-marital sex, as it is a very big sin in Islam and one which I believe will not be forgiven by Allah," Mirza said.

Khushboo, also known as "Baby Khushboo" after working as a child actress in the 1980s, is originally from Mumbai. She moved into Tamil films after her Bollywood career flopped.

Now busy with her game-show, she gained a tremendous following in Tamil movies as a heroine in sexy song-and-dance films. Adoring fans have built temples in her honour.

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