The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, November 19, granted anticipatory bail to actor Siddique in a rape case filed by a young woman. While granting the bail, the bench, headed by Justice Bela M Trivedi, questioned the survivor about why she took so many years to file a police complaint despite posting about the incident on Facebook in 2019. Actor Siddique, a powerful name in the Malayalam film industry, was also a top office bearer of AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Artists), formerly headed by superstar Mohanlal. This is the first time that a young woman is taking on someone of Siddique’s stature in the industry over a case of alleged rape.
Justice Bela Trivedi questioned why the survivor could not confide in the police if she could post about the alleged rape on social media.
Though it is a settled legal position that delay in filing a police complaint may be triggered by several stigmatising circumstances including victim shaming, Justice Bela said, “We deem it appropriate not to assign elaborate reasons, particularly considering the sensitivity of the case. However, because the complainant had filed the complaint almost eight years after the alleged incident which had taken place in 2016 and the complainant had also posted the posts on Facebook somewhere in 2018 making allegations about 14 people including the appellant about the alleged sexual abuse and also the fact that she had not gone to the Hema Committee, which was set up by the Government of Kerala, we are inclined to accept the present appeal.”
TNM had reported earlier about this list of 14 people which the survivor put out in 2021. She mentioned how several men had “sexually, mentally, verbally, and emotionally” abused her, and named 14 of them, with their respective work profiles. She stated that abuse in this context was not sexual in all the cases, but also included instances of cyber harassment, verbal abuse, and seeking sexual favours.
Siddique was booked by the Museum police in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram on August 27 under charges of rape and criminal intimidation. Justice CS Dias of the Kerala High Court had earlier denied Siddique’s anticipatory bail plea citing that there is prima facie evidence to show his involvement in the crime and that his custodial interrogation is ‘inevitable’ for the case.
In the Supreme Court, Siddique’s main contention for seeking bail was built entirely on discrediting the survivor by pulling up posts from her Facebook account and citing her delay in filing a complaint. He submitted 17 annexures, 12 of which were the survivor’s Facebook posts. Siddique argued that the posts portrayed her as someone capable of "vitriol and profanity" rather than a “vulnerable woman”. This was the same argument he put forth before the Kerala High Court, but the HC described such statements as “unwarranted and uncharitable”.
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who represented Siddique, also argued that the complaint was filed because of ongoing friction between AMMA and the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), an organisation which pressurised the Kerala government to constitute the Justice Hema Committee, whose report revealed rampant sexual harassment and power abuse in the Malayalam film industry. The survivor in Siddique’s case had spoken up about the alleged assault in 2019, but in the wake of the Hema Committee report, which has triggered a new Me Too wave in the Malayalam film industry, she approached the police and filed a complaint.
Appearing for the survivor, senior advocate Vrinda Grover broke down how Siddique groomed the young woman through messages on social media from 2014. Elaborating on how he approached the survivor on Facebook by liking her photos and messaging her, she said, “This is how grooming takes place and it takes immense courage for a woman to come forward with a complaint of rape.”
Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, who appeared for the State of Kerala, also brought it to the court’s attention that Siddique was not cooperative with the investigation and that he tried to tamper with evidence. In an earlier hearing, Justice Bela Trivedi had asked Siddique to cooperate with the investigation and granted interim bail.
The survivor said in her complaint that Siddique allegedly invited the survivor to a hotel and assaulted her. Siddique, however, denied the allegations. He also resigned from the general secretary position of AMMA and his whereabouts remained unknown for a few days until his bail hearing in the Kerala HC.