Supreme Court extends Kerala actor Siddique’s interim bail in rape case

The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the interim anticipatory bail of Malayalam actor Siddique in a rape case filed by a fellow actor, following the release of the Justice Hema Committee report, which highlighted incidents of sexual harassment in the Malayalam film industry.
The 62-year-old actor had previously been granted interim bail, and the bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma extended the bail further by a week.
A case was filed against Siddique in August this year based on a complaint by a young actor, who accused him of raping her in a hotel in 2016 after inviting her for a preview of his movie. The complaint also alleges that he had attempted to sexually assault her at a theatre earlier that same year, prior to the rape incident.
The actor, through his counsel Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, submitted before the top court on Tuesday that the police kept asking for his phone and laptop used in 2016, questioning, “How will I give it?”
Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the state, told the court that though the actor was appearing before the probe team, he was not cooperating with the investigation and was giving evasive responses.
Justice Satish Chandra Sharma questioned how a person can be asked to hand over a phone used in 2016. The bench also included Justice Bela M Trivedi.
“Material and question are two different things. He is saying you want the 2016 iPhone. As per my personal experience, I bought an iphone 16, giving my iPhone 15 back in the shop,” Justice Sharma said. “I quite see that. I am not joining issue on that,” Advocate Ranjit Kumar.
The Supreme Court adjourned the case until next week due to the ill health of the petitioner’s counsel, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi.
Following the complaint filed on August 19, which coincided with the release of the Hema Committee report that shook the Malayalam film industry, Siddique resigned as general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA), the largest actors’ body in Mollywood.
Siddique has been charged with rape (Section 376) and criminal intimidation (Section 506). However, he denied all allegations.
In the wake of revelations made in the Hema Committee report, multiple FIRs have been registered against several high-profile Malayalam film personalities over sexual harassment claims. The state government subsequently formed a high-level probe team to investigate these allegations and proceed according to the law.