Malayalam actor Siddique
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the interim protection from arrest granted to Malayalam actor Siddique by two weeks in a rape case registered against him based on allegations levelled by a young actress.
A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma did not agree to a contention by the Kerala government that the petitioner was destroying evidence, saying if he were to do so, he would have already done it.
Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Kerala government, submitted that their apprehension is two-fold, one he is not cooperating and second he is destroying the evidence.
The bench said the incident is of 2016.
Kumar said the petitioner comes up with a written statement every time he appears before the police saying that he does not want to answer any query on the ground that he cannot recollect anything.
He has deactivated his Facebook account. He does not want to give access to that the state has to ask third parties to give details, the counsel added.
“Our fear is this, which we have expressed in our report is that there are other people. There are 30 FIRs. The women who have come forward, they are feeling demoralised. 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 may be published. In 2024, 2019 report came and everything was included in that report,” he said.
Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for the complainant, said that it is not that the victim was silent for many years, she has been writing about it on Facebook.
“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,” she said.
Senior advocate V Giri, who appeared for Siddique, sought time to file a rejoinder to the status report filed by the police.
The court extended the interim anticipatory bail granted to Siddique by two weeks.
In the status report, the Kerala police opposed before the court interim protection from arrest granted to Malayalam film actor Siddique, contending that there is a stockpile of evidence against him and his brutality has crossed all limits.
It asked the court to dismiss his petition, as in view of considerable influence and clout, some of the evidence will be tampered and witnesses will be threatened.
Assistant Commissioner of Police, Narcotic Cell, Thiruvananthapuram City said it is imperative Siddique is unmasked.
"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 written response said.
On September 30, the Supreme Court had granted interim protection from arrest to Siddique against the Kerala High Court order, which rejected his plea for anticipatory bail in a rape case.
The police said Siddique, who has acted in over 350 Malayalam movies, was a member and former general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists, an organisation that centralised all power in the movie industry.
The case against Siddique was registered based on a complaint by an actress who accused him of raping her at the Mascot Hotel in Thiruvananthapuram in 2016.
The Malayalam film industry, Mollywood, has been rocked with 17 cases of sexual harassment having been registered following complaints lodged by victims in the wake of the release of the Justice Hema Committee report.
The Justice Hema Committee, established after the 2017 actress assault case, highlighted the exploitation of women in Malayalam cinema, leading to multiple FIRs being registered against high-profile actors and directors. Other actors implicated in sexual assault cases include Jayasurya, Edavela Babu, and Maniyanpilla Raju have also been granted anticipatory bail.