KOCHI: Malayalam actor Siddique on Monday approached the Kerala High Court seeking anticipatory bail in a case registered, after a woman actor filed a complaint against him for allegedly raping her at Thiruvananthapuram's Mascot Hotel in 2016.
The offence alleged in the FIR registered by the Museum Police Station, Thiruvananthapuram, are under Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
In his petition, Siddique argued that he had been subjected to a prolonged campaign of harassment and false accusations by the same complainant since 2019. Over the past five years, the complainant has repeatedly made unsubstantiated and false claims of “attempted sexual misconduct” and “verbal sexual propositions”.
However, she has now raised a contradictory allegation of a more serious crime of rape at a different location in the same year. To substantiate his claims, Siddique presented several Facebook posts made by the complainant, which he argues demonstrates that throughout the years, her allegations consistently referenced attempted sexual misconduct and verbal propositions at the theatre in 2016.
"The complainant is aware that a simple allegation of attempted sexual assault is a bailable offence; therefore, the petitioner could not be taken into custody. It is to make out a case warranting arrest and detention of the petitioner that the complainant has now come up with an allegation of rape," the petition stated.
Siddique pointed out that the complainant's initial allegations in 2019, which were repeated in subsequent years, placed the incident at a theatre where a movie preview was held. This location, according to him, is inherently unsuitable for non-verbal sexual acts, limiting the alleged misconduct to verbal abuse.
He suggested that the complainant has since conducted research to identify a more conducive setting, now claiming that the incident occurred in a hotel room where she alleges the rape took place. Siddique contended that this significant change in narrative reveals a deliberate and calculated effort to implicate him falsely.
Siddique also stated that he is apprehending arrest in the case, prompting him to file the anticipatory bail plea. The court is likely to hear the case on Tuesday.
Senior Advocate B. Raman Pillai, along with advocates Philip T. Varghese and Sujesh Menon VB will argue the case.