Actor Siddique moves SC against Kerala HC order denying anticipatory bail in rape case

The precocious tribunal connected Tuesday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Sidhique successful a rape lawsuit against him, saying that successful presumption of the seriousness of the accusations helium was facing, his custodial interrogation was inevitable for due probe of the crime.

It said since Sidhique’s defence was “a full denial of the incident”, his potency trial was yet to beryllium conducted and determination is simply a “reasonable apprehension” that helium whitethorn intimidate witnesses and tamper with evidence, “it was not a acceptable lawsuit to workout the discretionary powers of the court” to assistance him the relief.

The precocious court, however, made it wide that observations made by it successful the bid shall not beryllium construed arsenic an look of the merits of the case.

Sidhique, who was booked for offences nether sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC, has claimed successful his plea that the complainant pistillate histrion had subjected him to a “prolonged run of harassment and mendacious accusations since 2019”.

In his anticipatory bail plea earlier the precocious court, helium had claimed that she had repeatedly, for the past 5 years, made unsubstantiated and mendacious claims of intersexual misbehaviour and “verbal intersexual offers” by him successful a theatre successful 2016.

“But present she has raised wholly contradictory allegation of much superior transgression of rape astatine a antithetic spot successful the aforesaid year,” helium had said successful his plea.

He had besides felt that determination was inordinate hold successful lodging a ailment against him.

The victim’s lawyer, opposing the anticipatory bail plea, had told the precocious tribunal that the authorities constabulary were allegedly not conducting a due probe and had yielded to the actor’s power by not arresting him oregon recovering the physics evidence.

It was besides contended connected behalf of the unfortunate that Sidhique’s custodial interrogation was indispensable arsenic helium had committed “a heinous crime”.

The prosecution, too, had opposed the anticipatory bail plea by arguing that the probe was astatine a “nascent stage” and determination was “a stockpile of grounds against the petitioner-actor”.

It had further said if Sidhique was granted pre-arrest bail, helium would tamper with the grounds and endanger the witnesses successful presumption of “his power and clout”.

The prosecution had argued that the actor’s “custodial interrogation was indispensable to analyse the crime, peculiarly his potency test, which had to beryllium invariably conducted”.

The precocious tribunal had rejected the actor’s contentions, including that of hold successful lodging a complaint, saying “victims of intersexual maltreatment and battle whitethorn acquisition psychological, affectional and societal barriers that provender the hold successful reporting the matter, which needfully has to beryllium understood successful the discourse of the trauma”.

The tribunal had besides noted that adjacent though the Justice Hema Committee submitted its study to the authorities authorities successful 2019, “the authorities maintained a sphinx-like soundlessness for 5 years”.

“Ultimately, it was lone done the involution of this tribunal that the study saw the airy of day,” it had said.

Sidhique had resigned from his station arsenic wide caput of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) pursuing the allegations against him by the pistillate actor.

Multiple FIRs person been registered against galore high-profile Malayalam movie personalities pursuing allegations of intersexual harassment against assorted directors and actors successful the aftermath of revelations successful the Justice K Hema Committee report.

The committee was constituted by the Kerala authorities aft the 2017 histrion battle lawsuit and its study revealing instances of harassment and exploitation of women successful the Malayalam cinema industry.

Following the allegations of intersexual harassment and exploitation cropping up against respective actors and directors, the authorities authorities connected August 25 announced the constitution of a seven-member peculiar probe squad to probe them.