New Delhi. The Supreme Court on Tuesday approved the anticipatory bail plea of Malayalam actor Siddiqui, accused in a rape case. A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma said that the senior actor will have to surrender his passport and cooperate with the investigating officer. The top court also took note of the fact that the complaint in the case was filed in August, eight years after the alleged incident took place in 2016.
He said, “Particularly considering the sensitivity of the matter, we feel it appropriate not to give detailed reasons.” The bench said, “The complainant filed the complaint almost eight years after the alleged incident took place in 2016 and she had also shared a ‘post’ on Facebook in 2018, in which allegations were made against 14 people, including the petitioner, in connection with the alleged sexual exploitation. And there is also the fact that she did not go to the Hema Committee constituted by the Kerala Government. Keeping these facts in mind, we are in favor of accepting the present petition with some conditions.”
Questioning the complainant regarding the delay in filing the complaint, the bench said that she had the courage to share the ‘post’ on Facebook but she could not go to the police and lodge an FIR. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Siddiqui, argued that his client’s reputation was being tarnished and he had not met the complainant since 2016.
Rohatgi said, “He (the complainant) has made allegations against everyone on social media. She has accused him of sexual exploitation. “In 2018, he took the names of 14 people in his social media posts and tarnished my (Siddiqui’s) image and assassinated my character.” The senior lawyer told the court that 66-year-old Siddiqui has been an actor since 1986. Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Kerala government, said that ever since this court has given interim protection from arrest to Siddiqui, he is not cooperating in the investigation.
Kumar said, “It is necessary for us to take him into custody and interrogate him.” We have examined 22 witnesses and many more are yet to be examined. “A prima facie case is made out against him (Siddiqui).” Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for the complainant, said that Siddiqui had first contacted the complainant in 2014 after he ‘liked’ her picture on Facebook.
Grover said that in 2016, the complainant was invited to a theater for a ‘preview’ of the film, from where he was taken to the hospital. The bench asked him whether the complainant had worked in films.
Grover said, “Shi
This was the result of doing the work. “I (the complainant) have worked in some films, but after the complaint was filed against him, I did not get much work in the film industry.” Rohatgi said that since the court granted interim protection from arrest to Siddiqui, the investigating officer has called him twice for questioning and has asked him for the gadgets which the actor had used in 2016.
He said, “No person keeps (the same) mobile phone and laptop for eight years. I don’t have these either. “I have kept my Facebook account inactive since the complaint was filed because a lot of comments were being made.” After this the bench passed the order giving relief to Siddiqui.
The court had granted interim protection from arrest to Siddiqui on September 30. The Court has since been extending the period of interim relief from time to time. The Kerala High Court had rejected Siddiqui’s anticipatory bail plea on September 24. The court had said that considering the seriousness of the allegations against Siddiqui, his custodial interrogation is inevitable for proper investigation of the crime.