Actor-legislator M Mukesh was formally arrested Tuesday on rape charges but released on bail later on the back of an anticipatory bail he secured from an Ernakulam court earlier this month. The development came hours after the Kerala High Court denied anticipatory bail to fellow actor and former Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) general secretary Siddique on similar allegations. In her complaint, a former woman actor in the Malayalam film industry had alleged that Mukesh, a two-time Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA from Kollam Assembly constituency, had raped her in 2010 at his flat in Kochi promising a membership in the actors’ association AMMA. The same woman had complained against another actor Edavela Babu, also a prominent figure in AMMA. All three allegations came against the backdrop of the Hema Committee report on the working conditions of women professionals in the industry. Mukesh's arrest in Kochi came after nearly three hours of questioning by a special team. The actor, who was released from the police station itself, did not respond to the media’s queries. Earlier Tuesday, the Kerala High Court rejected Siddique’s anticipatory bail application. A young woman actor had made the allegation through the media, following which Siddique was forced to step down as AMMA’s general secretary. Subsequently, the woman filed a complaint with Thiruvananthapuram city police which registered the FIR was registered under sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. According to the complaint, the alleged crime happened in 2016 at a hotel in the city. The alleged incident had taken place in a hotel room in the state capital in 2016. Police had collected various pieces of evidence from the hotel records which prima facie substantiated the allegation of the woman. Siddique is the only actor whose bail application has been rejected since the latest sexual harassment and rape allegations broke out. On their part, the actors have denied the allegation calling it “blackmail tactics” and “criminal conspiracy to tarnish the reputation of the Malayalam industry”. While granting Mukesh anticipatory bail earlier this month, the sessions court in Ernakulam observed that the complainant had not mentioned about a forcible sexual intercourse in her first statement but claimed about use of force only after initial hearing of the bail plea. The judge Honey M Varghese, who examined the veracity of the allegations for considering the pre-arrest bail plea, said: “There is a clear distinction between rape and consensual sex”. “No element of forcible intercourse was mentioned in the first statement. In the further statement, recorded after the initial hearing of the bail application, she said she was subjected to forcible intercourse. Nothing to mention in the statement regarding coercion and instigation,” the court said. It further said: “She (the complainant) accompanied him to get membership (in AMMA). The only contention of the woman was that her consent was obtained on the strength of a promise of membership in the association.” But there has been a growing clamour for Mukesh’s resignation following the allegations although his party the CPI (M) has so far thrown its full weight of support behind the actor politician.
