Supreme Court extends interim anticipatory bail for Malayalam actor Siddique in sexual assault case

To the bench’s query about the delay in lodging the complaint of the incident dating to 2016, the senior counsel said the victim gathered the courage to come out in the open only after the report of the Justice Hema Committee, which exposed the casting couch and other exploitations in Malayalam film industry, was released.

In their report, the Kerala Police urged the court not to give precedence to the liberty of Siddique over “the threat of disrupted investigation”, saying there was “a stockpile of evidence” against the veteran actor and his custodial interrogation was necessary.

On September 29, the SC 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. The veteran actor has twice appeared before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed after several women actors raised sexual assault complaints following the release of the Justice Hema Commission report.

In their report filed in the top court, the Kerala Police contended that Siddique, booked for allegedly raping an actress, 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.

As per the prosecution case, 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.