New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the interim anticipatory bail granted to Malayalam actor Siddique, in a rape case registered against him based on allegations levelled by a young actress, by two weeks, and orally observed that if he were to destroy the evidence, he would have done it by now.
The matter came up before a bench comprising Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma. At the outset, Kerala police emphasized that Siddique was destroying the evidence while opposing interim protection granted to Siddique. “Our fear is this, which we have expressed in our report is that there are other people. There are 30 FIRs. The ladies who have come forward, are feeling demoralized.
They believe they will not get justice…the report of the Justice Hema committee was kept under wraps for 5 years. Till the high court intervened and directed that this report be published. In 2024, 2019 report came and everything was included in that report”, said senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, representing the Kerala police.
The bench asked if this complaint was from 2024. Kumar said the victim's complaint on Facebook has been there all along. The bench orally observed if Siddique were to destroy the evidence, then he would have destroyed it by now. “Your apprehension is that he will destroy the evidence…”, asked the bench.
Kumar replied, “My apprehension is two-fold: one he is not cooperating…”. The bench asked if the incident was in 2016. Kumar said, “he (Siddique) has prepared a written statement saying that he does not want to answer anything and he cannot recollect anything….after this happened, he has closed his Facebook account. He does not want to give access to that…we have to ask third parties to give details, which were there on Facebook…”.
Advocate Vrinda Grover said he has closed the Facebook account and emphasized that it is not that the victim was silent for many years. Grover said, “It will be demonstrated that she repeatedly raised the issue. It is very difficult to go against the superstar and survive in the industry. She has already paid a price for that….there is now a report by a former judge which says compromise and adjustment is the pattern in the industry…”. Senior advocate V.V. Giri represented Siddique before the apex court.
After hearing arguments, the apex court extended the interim anticipatory bail granted to Malayalam actor Siddique in a rape case registered against him based on allegations levelled by a young actress by two weeks. The Kerala police, opposing Malayalam actor Siddique's interim protection arrest, has told the Supreme Court that his plea should be dismissed as his brutality crossed all limits and stressed that it is essential to expose his lie of righteousness before he goes down in history as a hero and gets venerated by subsequent generations as worthy of emulation.
The police said Siddique must be unmasked. Siddique was a member and former general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists, an organization that centralized all power in the movie industry and has acted in over 350 Malayalam movies. The apex court on September 30 granted interim protection from arrest to Malayalam actor Siddique in a rape case lodged against him by an actress.
The status report was filed on October 19, by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Narcotic Cell, Thiruvananthapuram City. “At the very outset, I would like to convey my expostulation about the unfairness of the special leave petition violating the nobility of womanhood. The intention apart from getting bail is to revile and malign a poor rape victim treating her with utmost rancour and disrespect”, said the report.
The police urged the apex court to dismiss Siddique's anticipatory bail plea “as the brutality of the accused crossed all limits”. “It is essential to expose his lie of righteousness before he goes down in history as a hero and gets venerated by subsequent generations as worthy of emulation. It is hence imperative that he should be unmasked”, said the report.
The police emphasized that though the investigation is at the initial stage, there is a stockpile of evidence against him, and added that considering the influence and clout of the accused some of the evidence will be tampered and witnesses will be threatened. On September 30, a bench comprising of justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma issued notice on his plea challenging the September 24 order of the Kerala High Court dismissing his bail plea.
The case against Siddique arose in the wake of the Justice Hema Committee report on sexual harassment and gender inequality against women in Malayalam cinema. The complainant, a young actor, had raised the allegation through the media, following the release of the report. The woman filed a complaint with Thiruvananthapuram city police and an FIR was registered under sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
The complainant alleged that the crime occurred in 2016 at a Thiruvananthapuram hotel. Siddique has denied the allegations, calling it a “criminal conspiracy to tarnish the reputation of the entire Malayalam film industry”.
