An apex court bench comprising Justices Bela Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma adjourned the hearing after senior advocate V Giri who appeared for Siddique sought time to file a response to the status report filed by the Kerala Police opposing his petition.
Published Oct 22, 2024 | 1:37 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 22, 2024 | 1:37 PM
Actor Siddique granted anticipatory bail by Supreme Court. (Instagram)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday, 22 October, extended by two weeks the interim anticipatory bail granted to Malayalam actor Siddique in a rape case registered against him based on allegations of a female actor.
An apex court bench comprising Justices Bela Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma adjourned the hearing after senior advocate V Giri who appeared for Siddique sought time to file a response to the status report filed by the Kerala Police opposing his petition.
Giri informed the court that Siddique appeared before the investigating officer following its interim order.
The Thiruvananthapuram Museum Police had registered a case against Siddique on 28 August, which includes charges of rape, under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code. The Supreme Court had granted him the interim anticipatory bail on 30 September after the Kerala High Court rejected his application on 24 September.
In another development pertaining to the cases filed after the release of the Hema Committee report, actor and politician M Mukesh was arrested by the Vadakkanchery Police on the night of Monday, 21 October, in connection with an alleged 2011 sexual assault.
However, he was later granted bail after being taken into custody, as the Kerala High Court had earlier accepted the CPI(M) MLA’s anticipatory bail plea.
Meanwhile, senior advocate Ranjit Kumar who appeared for the state government submitted that Siddique was not cooperating with the investigation and was destroying the evidence.
“My apprehension is two-fold. One, that he is not cooperating. When he is coming, he comes with a prepared statement that he won’t answer anything more and says that he can’t recollect. Second is, after the FIR, he closed his Facebook account. He does not want us to get access to that. We have to approach third parties to access,” Kumar submitted, reported LiveLaw.
When Justice Trivedi pointed out that the complaint was filed eight years after the alleged incident, Kumar explained the developments related to the Justice Hema Committee’s report on the abuses faced by women in the Malayalam cinema industry.
Kumar submitted that the victim mustered the courage to come out with the allegations following the publication of the Hema Committee report and requested the Court understand the delay in filing the FIR in that context.
The complaint, filed by the actress, dates back to 2016 when she alleged that Siddique had sexually exploited her at the Mascot Hotel in Thiruvananthapuram. The two had reportedly attended a movie preview show at the Nila Theatre on the same day.
Police investigations found corroborating evidence, including hotel records from eight years ago, which confirm the actress’s presence at the Mascot Hotel.
While Siddique has maintained that he met the complainant in the presence of her parents, the high court’s decision to reject his bail suggests serious consideration of the evidence supporting the actress’s claims.
Following the filing of the complaint, Siddique resigned from his position as the general secretary of AMMA, the actors’ association.
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.
Following this the government appointed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation of women in Malayalam cinema. The SIT is set to take further legal action based on the findings of the Hema Committee report.
Sources reveal that there are over 20 cases involving serious allegations. The complainants in these cases will be contacted, and legal proceedings will be initiated with their consent. Further, the SIT decided that if the individuals provide new statements, the team will move forward with the necessary legal steps.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
