New Delhi: The Supreme Court (SC), on Tuesday, November 19 granted anticipatory bail to senior Malayalam film actor Siddique after hearing his plea in an alleged rape case filed against him by a young Malayalee female actor.
The Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma made his earlier interim bail granted on September 30 absolute before granting him the new anticipatory bail.
A bench said the veteran actor will have to deposit his passport and cooperate with the investigating officer in the probe.
The top court also took note of the fact that the complaint in the case was filed in August, eight years after the alleged incident took place in 2016.
While granting bail to the senior actor and former general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), the SC noted that though the survivor posted on social media about the incident in 2018, accusing 14 other men from the industry of sexual assault, she did not pursue the case legally.
Justice Bela Trivedi further noted that the complainant had also failed to report the incident to the Hema Committee, which was set up by the Government of Kerala. However, the court was inclined to accept the present appeal.
The actor was booked by the Thiruvananthapuram Museum police on August 27, on the charges of rape and criminal intimidation.
The complainant alleged that the actor had invited her to a hotel and sexually assaulted her. The accused actor, meanwhile, denied the allegations.
Top Supreme Court advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for the accused actor Siddique while women’s rights activist and advocate Vrinda Grover appeared for the complainant.
While appearing for the survivor, advocate Vrinda Grover elaborated on how the accused actor had sent messages to the survivor and tried to groom the young actress since 2014. “This is how grooming takes place and it takes immense courage for a woman to come forward with a complaint of rape,” reported The News Minute.
Advocate Ranjit Kumar, who appeared for the state government of Kerala, brought to the notice of the court that the accused actor was not cooperating with the case’s investigation. The court reprimanded the actor, directing him to cooperate with the investigation.
Kerala police had alleged a lack of cooperation on the part of Siddique in the investigation.
In its status report, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Kerala police alleged that the veteran actor was hindering the investigation and destroyed electronic devices besides deleting his social media accounts.
On September 24, the Kerala High Court rejected Siddique’s anticipatory bail plea in the rape case, saying in view of the seriousness of the accusations, his custodial interrogation was inevitable for a proper investigation of the crime.
The Kerala High Court had noted the political and social clout and influence the accused actor possesses, and revelations from the police investigation reports of the actor trying to destroy evidence and threaten the witnesses in the case, Live Law reported.
The actress had submitted the complaint in the wake of Justice Hema Committee’s Report on its investigations and findings about the exploitations and violations faced by women in the Malayalam film industry. In her complaint, the actress alleged that the senior actor sexually abused her, offering her opportunities in the industry.
Follow on Twitter | Posted by Neha Khan | 
