The Kerala high court on September 24 dismissed a pre-arrest bail petition filed by Malayalam film actor Siddique in a case of alleged rape of an actress at a Thiruvananthapuram hotel in 2016. The court observed that the delay of eight years in reporting the alleged assault “was not fatal to the prosecution at this preliminary stage” and that it required careful examination during trial.
The allegation came in the wake of the Hema Committee report on gender bias and abuse in the Malayalam film industry and the sexual harassment and assault complaints that followed thereafter.
Dismissing Siddique’s plea, a bench of Justice C.S. Dias held that the overall scrutiny of facts, law, gravity of the accusations and materials placed on record indicated prima facie evidence of Siddique’s involvement. The bench also emphasised that Siddique’s custodial interrogation was essential, particularly because his defence was a total denial of the assault, and his potency test was yet to be conducted.
Incidentally, Justice Dias criticised the state’s Left government for its inaction on the Hema Committee Report, noting that the government had maintained a “Sphinx-like silence” for five years since the report was submitted.