December 13, 2024 15:15 (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
French President Macron appoints centrist leader Francois Bayrou as new Prime Minister | Congress always prioritised personal interest over Constitution: Rajnath Singh | Jaishankar calls attack on Hindus in Bangladesh 'a source of concern' | Allu Arjun arrested over woman's death in stampede during Pushpa 2 premiere show | RBI receives bomb threat in Russian language, case filed | UP teenager kills mother, lives with body for 5 days | At least six people including a child killed in Tamil Nadu hospital fire | Amid Atul Subhash row, SC says mere harassment is not enough to prove abetment to suicide | India's D Gukesh becomes youngest ever world champion in chess | Devendra Fadnavis meets PM Modi amid suspense over Maharashtra portfolio allocation
MeToo
Malayalam actor Siddique | Photo courtesy: instagram.com/actor.sidhique

MeToo case: SC grants anticipatory bail to Malayalam actor Siddique noting 'complainant posted on Facebook but not reached Hema Committee'

| @indiablooms | Nov 19, 2024, at 07:30 pm

New Delhi/IBNS: Malayalam actor Siddique has been granted an anticipatory bail from the Supreme Court in connection with an alleged rape case, media reports said.

Siddique was accused of sexual assault by a young actress. He has denied the charges.

The top court has asked Siddique to deposit his passport in the lower court and cooperate with probe officials.

The lower court has been given the task to decide on the conditions of the bail.

The charges against Siddique were brought in the wake of the Hema Committee report that has reportedly exposed shocking details about the Malayalam film industry including casting couch and exploitation of women.

The top court has noted that the complaint against Siddique was filed eight years after the alleged incident.

It also noted that the complainant had not gone to the Justice Hema Committee, which was probing the sexual harassment case in the south Indian film industry.

The top court bench said as quoted by Live Law, "We deem it appropriate not to assign elaborate reasons, particularly considering the sensitivity of the case.

"However, considering the fact that the complainant had filed the complaint almost eight years after the alleged incident which had taken place in 2016 and the complainant had also posted the posts on Facebook somewhere in 2018 making allegations about 14 people including the appellant with regard to the alleged sexual abuse and also the fact that she had not gone to the Hema Committee, which was set up by the Government of Kerala, we are inclined to accept the present appeal."

Siddique was denied an anticipatory bail by the Kerala High Court in September.

He was granted interim protection by the Supreme Court after the police issued a warrant against the veteran actor.

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.