Crucial day for actor Siddique as SC to examine plea for bail extension tomorrow

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 21 (IANS) Malayalam actor Siddique, who got anticipatory bail from the Supreme Court in a rape case filed against him by an actress last month, will have his fate decided on Tuesday as it will decide whether he can be granted permanent bail or not as the police probe team has stated he has not cooperated and is seeking custodial interrogation.

On Monday, his counsel filed an affidavit saying that as directed by the apex court last month while granting him anticipatory bail, he has cooperated with the police probe team which questioned him two times earlier this month. He has argued that he has given to the police all he was able to, while a few items like a mobile phone which he used years ago could not be handed over as it had become untraceable.

In the wake of the explosive Justice Hema Committee report on the condition of women in the Malayalam film industry, released in August, a storm of allegations was unleashed against its leading figures.

A police case against Siddique was registered based on a complaint by an actress who accused him of raping her in a state-owned hotel in the capital city in 2016. The actress, who initially hesitated to file a police complaint, later emailed the state police chief alleging that Siddique raped her after she refused to give in to his demands for sexual favours in exchange for a role in a Tamil movie.

When this revelation came, Siddique, who was recently elected as the General Secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), quit the post. Thereafter, the entire Executive Committee, chaired by President Mohanlal, also resigned.

Siddique had contended in court that this particular actress had been harassing him since 2019 by making repeated claims on social media that he tried to molest her at a theatre in 2016, and after the Justice Hema Committee report was published, she made a more serious allegation of rape at a different place in the same year.

Trouble began for Siddique when on September 24, the Kerala High Court rejected his anticipatory bail. In a few hours, he went missing and police were unable to trace and arrest him. He re-surfaced after September 30 when the apex court granted him bail and asked him to present himself before the probe team.

As a few former actresses publicly revealed their bad experiences, police were quick to act, registering 11 FIRs against various film personalities. At present, those who are in the dock include actor-turned-CPI-M legislator Mukesh Madhavan, Nivin Pauly, Jayasurya, Edavela Babu, Maniyanpilla Raju, directors Ranjith and Prakash, and production executives Vichu and Noble, apart from Siddique. Mukesh, Ranjith, Raju, Prakash, and Jayasurya have already got relief from the courts from being arrested, while Siddique was the first actor who applied for anticipatory bail but failed to get it from any court in Kerala and it was the apex court that gave him pre-arrest bail.

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