NEW DELHI: In a big relief to Malayalam actor Siddique, the Supreme Court on Monday granted him interim protection from arrest in a rape case registered against him based allegations by a young actress.
A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma granted interim relief to Siddique, and issued notice to the respondents, including the state government.
The actor challenged the high court's order of September 24 which rejected his anticipatory bail plea in the sexual assault case registered against him.
The HC had denied him interim relief of anticipatory bail, after noting that the seriousness of the accusations he was facing, his custodial interrogation was inevitable for proper investigation of the crime.
The HC also noted that since Siddique's defence was "a total denial of the incident", his potency test was yet to be conducted and there being a "reasonable apprehension" that he may intimidate witnesses and tamper with evidence. "It was not a fit case to exercise the discretionary powers of the court to grant him the relief," the HC said in its order snd dismissed his anticipatory bail, forcing him to knock the doors of the top court for relief.
On the other hand, the accused had claimed in his anticipatory bail plea before the high court, that the victim had repeatedly, for the past five years, made unsubstantiated and false claims of sexual misbehaviour and "verbal sexual offers" by him in a theatre in 2016.
There is even inordinate delay in registering the complaint in the case, Siddique claimed.
A case was registered against Siddique, for offences under sections 376 (Rape) and 506 (Criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
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.
Siddique has reportedly been missing since the High Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea on September 24. A lookout notice was issued against Siddique Mamathu on behalf of Superintendent of Police, Crime Branch, Thiruvananthapuram (Member of the Special Investigation Team).
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 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.
Besides Siddique, all of them have been granted anticipatory bail.
