SC grants anticipatory bail for actor Siddique in rape case

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has granted anticipatory bail to actor Siddique in a rape case. The actor should submit his passport and cooperate with the investigation. The Supreme Court also clarified that the bail conditions will be fixed by the trial court. The state's lawyer has informed the Supreme Court that the bail conditions should be fixed only after hearing the prosecution. The Supreme Court had earlier granted interim bail to Siddique in the case.

Long arguments were witnessed in the court today in the case. A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma considered the actor’s bail plea. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for the actor. Mukul Rohatgi pointed that his client is a 66-year-old senior citizen.

Siddique was granted bail on the grounds that the complaint was filed eight years after the incident. The Supreme Court also directed that he should be released on bail if arrested in the case. The case was adjourned to today on the request of Siddique's lawyer last week citing health reasons.

The state government had argued in the Supreme Court that granting bail to Siddique would affect other similar cases. Rejecting this argument, the court granted him bail. Showed the courage to raise in 2018 via Facebook, the incident that happened in 2016 and needed eight years to approach the police. The Supreme Court also observed that she did not appear before the Hema Committee formed by the Kerala government.

Siddique had filed a police complaint against the actress on the eve of her complaint filed on August 27. Siddique was an office bearer of 'AMMA', an Association of Malayalam Movie Artists. The complainant is a former office bearer of the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC). Rohatgi also argued that these two organizations are in 'conflict'.

The state government argued that Siddique had destroyed evidence in the case and is trying to hinder the investigation. Siddique deleted the Facebook and Skype accounts he used to communicate with the survivor. The government also pointed that he had abandoned his phones and computers used that time.