Lookout notice against actor Siddique after Kerala HC denies him bail in rape case

Siddique has been missing since the court rejected his anticipatory bail plea on September 24. The case was registered last month but the police did not take any initiative to arrest him.

In her complaint last month, a young woman actor had raised the rape allegation through the media, following which Siddique was forced to step down as the general secretary of the actors’ outfit Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA). Subsequently, the woman filed a complaint with Thiruvananthapuram city police.

The lookout notice issued against Siddique.

After the Hema committee report was released last month, some women had filed sexual harassment/rape cases against various film professionals, including some prominent actors, in the industry. Except for Siddique, all of them have been granted anticipatory bail.

Rejecting Siddique’s bail application, Judge CS Dias said the “overall scrutiny of the facts, gravity and seriousness of the accusations alleged against the petitioner, coupled with the materials placed on record that prima facie shows the petitioner’s involvement in the crime, that the petitioner’s custodial interrogation is inevitable for the proper investigation of the crime”.

On Siddique’s argument that the complaint lacks credibility, the court said it reflected an “uncharitable view” of the survivor’s circumstances.

“A woman’s experiences of sexual assault are not a reflection of her character but rather an indication of her suffering. The attempt to blame a woman for speaking out may be a strategy to silence her, which is hostile to the supremacy of the law,” the court said.

On the argument that there was a delay of eight years between the alleged incident and the complaint, the court said victims of sexual abuse and assault may experience psychological, emotional and social barriers, which necessarily has to be understood in the context of the trauma.

The incident allegedly happened in 2016 at a hotel room in Thiruvananthapuram. Siddique allegedly got in touch with the survivor through Facebook in 2014 and frequently interacted with her and her mother over the phone and via Skype, encouraging the survivor to work in the cinema and promising to help.

In 2016, the accused had allegedly invited the survivor and her parents to attend the preview of a movie. After the movie, he invited the survivor to a hotel room to discuss a new film and raped her, the complainant had claimed.