Supreme Court extends Kerala actor Siddique’s interim bail in rape case by a week

Appearing for the Kerala Government, Senior Advocate Ranjit Singh said Siddique is not cooperating with the investigators though he was appearing before them.

Rohatgi said the police were asking Siddique to provide the phone that he was using in 2016, during which the alleged rape took place. “How will I give it?” asked Rohatgi on the actor’s behalf.

To which, Justice Sharma told the state counsel, Singh, “He (accused) is saying you want the 2016 iPhone. As per my personal experience, I bought an iPhone 16, giving my iPhone 15 back in the shop,” Justice Kumar said, “I quite see that and I am not joining issue”.

On September 29, the Supreme Court granted Siddique interim protection from arrest, after he moved the top court following the Kerala High Court’s rejection of his plea for anticipatory bail on September 23. This was extended by 2 weeks on October 22.

Kerala Police raises concern over extended bail

Opposing the plea, the Kerala Police said in a counter affidavit that he was an “extremely influential person” and could “obstruct the course of justice and scuttle the investigative machinery”. The police expressed apprehension that the “witnesses who have boldly come forward after the Justice Hema Commission report will step back” if his interim protection was indefinitely prolonged.

The veteran actor has appeared twice before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed after several women actors raised sexual assault complaints following the release of the Justice Hema Commission report, which dealt with allegations of casting couch in the Malayalam film industry.

As per the prosecution, with the intention to rape the victim, Siddique tactfully lured her by promising a role in a film and thereafter raped her at a Thiruvananthapuram hotel on January 28, 2016.