Supreme Court extends bail ahead of Malayalam actor Siddique’s arrest in rape case and questions delay in filing complaint

The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended Malayalam actor Siddique’s pre-arrest bail in a rape case by two weeks and questioned the delay in filing a complaint against the 61-year-old actor.

The extension comes weeks after the Supreme Court on September 30 granted Siddique pre-arrest bail on the condition that he appear before the police for questioning and cooperate with the investigation.

The case was registered on August 19 based on the actress’s complaint in which she alleged that Siddique raped her at a hotel in 2016. That same year, he also tried to rape her in a theater before a rape incident. .

On Tuesday, a bench comprising Justices Bela M. Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma made the observation while hearing an anticipatory bail petition filed by Siddique.

“The complaint was filed after 8 years?” Justice Trivedi asked.

In response, senior advocate Ranjith Kumar, appearing for Kerala, said that although the complainant had narrated the incident on Facebook many years ago, the survivor needs to muster the courage to report such an incident officially.

“She wrote on Facebook. It took time to muster up the courage,” Kumar said.

Echoing Kumar’s words, Vrinda Grover, another lawyer appearing on behalf of the petitioner, said, “It is not a matter of remaining silent for 8 years. It takes time and she has faced the consequences.”

Appearing for Siddique, senior advocate V.V. Giri took time to file an objection to the status report filed by the Kerala Police against his plea and told the court that the actor was produced before the investigating officer after he was granted pre-arrest bail.

The actor denied the allegations leveled against him and said that the complainant had subjected him to a “prolonged campaign of harassment and false accusations since 2019.”

However, he resigned as the general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Film Artistes (AMMA).

The actress filed the case following the release of the Hem Committee report, which shed light on the widespread and persistent sexual harassment faced by women in Malayalam cinema, with many claiming they were subjected to unwanted advances even before they started working.

Several FIRs have been registered against many prominent figures of Malayalam cinema following allegations of sexual harassment against them following the revelations made in the Hema committee report.