Hema Committee report reverberations: Actor Siddique questioned the second time

Thiruvananthapuram: For the second time in five days, Malayalam actor Siddique who got anticipatory bail from the Supreme Court in a rape case filed against him by an actress, turned up before the SIT for questioning on Saturday.

Siddique left after two hours of questioning.

He first appeared before the probe team in the state capital on Monday and after about three hours of interrogation, he was allowed to leave but asked to report again on Saturday.

In the wake of the explosive Justice Hema Committee report on the condition of women in the Malayalam film industry, released in August, a storm of allegations was unleashed against its leading figures. A police case against Siddique was registered based on a complaint by an actress who accused him of raping her in a state-owned hotel in the capital city in 2016.

The actress, who initially hesitated to file a police complaint, later emailed the state police chief alleging that Siddique raped her after she refused to give in to his demands for sexual favours in exchange for a role in a Tamil movie. When this revelation came, Siddique, who was recently elected as the General Secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), quit the post. Thereafter, the entire Executive Committee, chaired by President Mohanlal, also resigned.

Siddique had contended in court that this particular actress had been harassing him since 2019 by making repeated claims on social media that he tried to molest her at a theatre in 2016, and after the Justice Hema Committee report was published, she made a more serious allegation of rape at a different place in the same year.

Trouble began for Siddique when on September 24, the Kerala High Court rejected his anticipatory bail. In a few hours, he went missing and police were unable to trace and arrest him. He re-surfaced after September 30 when the apex court granted him bail and asked him to present himself before the probe team.

The police were asked not to arrest him for two weeks.

Incidentally, a few days after he secured bail, he wrote to the probe team that he was ready to appear before it and went before them on Monday. On that day, he was asked to come back on Saturday with certain records of his phone which he had used in 2016.

As a few former actresses publicly revealed their bad experiences, police were quick to act, registering 11 FIRs against various film personalities. At present, those who are in the dock include actor-turned-CPI-M legislator Mukesh Madhavan, Nivin Pauly, Jayasurya, Edavela Babu, Maniyanpilla Raju, directors Ranjith and Prakash, and production executives Vichu and Noble.

Mukesh, Ranjith, Raju, Prakash, and Jayasurya have already got relief from the courts from being arrested. Siddique was the first actor who applied for anticipatory bail but failed to get it.

The special investigation team (SIT) is probing the allegations of sexual harassment in the Malayalam film industry and has been recording the statements of those who had deposed before the Justice Hema Committee.

For Siddique, the apex court has now posted his case for October 22 and hence, the ongoing questioning is crucial as the court will decide on extending or granting him permanent bail, based on the probe team's statement as there are chances that they might ask for custodial interrogation.