Siddique was granted anticipatory bail by Supreme Court on 30 September, on the condition that he would cooperate with investigation teams.
Published Oct 07, 2024 | 11:10 AM ⚊ Updated Oct 07, 2024 | 11:10 AM
Actor Siddique.
Malayalam actor Siddique will be interrogated by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Monday, 7 October, in connection with a rape case filed against him by a female actor.
The questioning will take place at the Police Commissioner’s office in Thiruvananthapuram and is expected to continue for a couple of days.
The case was registered on 28 August by the Museum Police following the woman’s complaint, in which she alleged that Siddique raped her at Mascot Hotel, Thiruvananthapuram, on 28 January, 2016, after a film preview.
The complaint came after the release of the Justice Hema Committee report.
Siddique is charged under Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), but he maintains that the accusations are part of a “prolonged campaign” against him since 2019.
Siddique had expressed his willingness to cooperate with the investigation, emailing the probe team on Saturday, 5 October.
The actor was granted anticipatory bail by the Supreme Court on 30 September, on the condition that he would cooperate with the investigation teams.
The Supreme Court, while granting the anticipatory bail stated that there shall be no arrest of the petitioner, subject to conditions set by the trial court and his cooperation with the investigation.
The hearing came in response to a petition by Siddique, challenging the Kerala High Court’s 24 September decision to deny him bail.
The high court while rejecting the bail plea, noted: “The survivor has explicitly described the trauma that she endured due to the incident, which was agonising that it inhibited her from disclosing the details to anyone, including her parents. In 2019, she mustered the courage to address the harassment in a Facebook post. Following this disclosure, the survivor received threatening messages, whereby she lost the courage to complain. The survivor has been living in a state of continuous trauma, fear and distress and continues to harbour fears for her life.”
After the high court denied him bail, the Kerala police put out lookout notices against the actor. However, Siddique was not caught by the police and made a public appearance only after he was granted interim protection by the Supreme Court.
The Kerala government constituted the Justice Hema Committee after the 2017 actress assault case and its report revealed instances of harassment and exploitation of women in the Malayalam cinema industry.
The publication of the Justice K Hema Committee report opened a can of worms with several female actors stepping forward with disturbing accounts of the mistreatment they faced at the hands of their various male counterparts.
The Hema Commission report was made public on 19 August, five years after it was submitted to the Kerala government.
(Edited by Sumavarsha Kandula, with inputs from Dileep V Kumar)
