Actor Siddique moves Kerala High Court for anticipatory bail in rape case

Malayalam movie actor Siddique has approached the Kerala High Court seeking anticipatory bail in a rape case filed against him by an actress. .The allegations against the actor were made after the public release of the Justice Hema Committee report on August 19, 2024.The report revealed large-scale sexual abuse and 'casting couch' practices within the Malayalam film industry, among other findings. The publication of the redacted report has led to a wave of sexual abuse allegations against several actors, directors and other film personalities..The case against Siddique was registered on the basis of allegations made by an actress that he raped her at the Mascot 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 favors in exchange for a role in a Tamil movie. The rape case was registered last week and the investigation is being handled by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up to probe the sexual abuse cases emerging after the publication of the Justice Hema Committee report. .In his petition seeking anticipatory bail, Siddique has claimed that the woman complainant has been harassing him since 2019 by making repeated claims on social media that he tried to sexually misbehave with her at a theatre in 2016. However, she has now made a more serious allegation of rape at a different place in the same year, the plea stated. "It is clear that the defacto complainant is made aware that simple allegation of attempted sexual assault is bailable offence, and therefore, the petitioner could not be taken into custody and it is in order to make out a case warranting arrest and detention of the petitioner that the defacto complainant has now come up with an allegation of rape," Siddique's petition reads. This change in narrative shows that the complainant is deliberately attempting to implicate him in a false case, it has been contended.The allegations have several inconsistencies and were made after considerable delay, he has said while seeking anticipatory bail.He has also asserted that his custodial interrogation is completely unnecessary for collection of evidence in this case. Siddique is represented by Senior Advocate B Raman Pillai and advocates Philip T Varghese and Sujesh Menon VB..In the wake of the publication of the Justice Hema Committee Report, actors Mukesh and Edavela Babu and directors Ranjith and VK Prakash are also facing similar accusations.Mukesh and Prakash have also filed for anticipatory bail in the cases against them.