New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday confirmed and made absolute the interim anticipatory bail of Malayalam actor Siddique, who faces alleged charges of raping an actress.
A Bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and SC Sharma took note of the fact that the complainant lodged an FIR after eight years of the alleged incident, though she levelled accusations on Siddique and several others on social media in 2018.
The apex court said that Siddique should cooperate with the investigation, apart from surrendering his passport to the trial court.
The trial court may impose more conditions on Siddique to prevent him from influencing witnesses or tampering with evidence, the top court clarified.
In an earlier hearing, Kerala Police had apprised the apex court that though Siddique was appearing before the Investigating Officials, he did not cooperate with the ongoing probe and tendered evasive responses.
On the other hand, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Siddique, said that Kerala Police asked the Malayalam actor to provide his mobile and laptop from 2016.
In an order passed on September 30, the Supreme Court issued notice on Siddique’s plea for anticipatory bail and granted him interim pre-arrest bail, which was extended from time to time.
“It is directed that in the event of arrest of the petitioner, he shall be released on bail, subject to the conditions that may be imposed by the trial court and subject to his joining the investigation and remaining present before the Investigating Officer as and when called upon to do so,” the SC had ordered.
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 Thiruvananthapuram 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.
After that, the entire Executive Committee, chaired by President Mohanlal, also resigned.
Siddique had contended 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.
Within a few hours, Siddique 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.
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.
As a few former actresses publicly revealed their bad experiences, police were quick to act, registering 11 FIRs against various film personalities.
(IANS)
