Actress’ complaint: Siddique slapped with rape charge

Thiruvananthapuram: Police have slapped a rape charge against Malayalam actor Siddique following a complaint by a young actress.

According to the FIR registered at the Museum Police Station, the actor is accused of sexually assaulting the actress at Muscat Hotel in January 2016. Siddique is also charged of threatening the actress. An FIR under sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) has been registered against the actor at Museum police station, a senior police officer said.

This is the second FIR against a high profile film personality following the allegations of sexual harassment against various directors and actors in the wake of revelations in the Justice Hema Committee report.

The first case, under IPC Section 354 (assault or criminal force on woman with intent to outrage her modesty), was against director Ranjith on a complaint by a female actor from West Bengal regarding an incident which occurred in 2009.

Earlier on Tuesday, the actress had lodged a sexual harassment complaint against Siddique, stating that he had mistreated her and that she had a negative experience at a young age. Following these allegations, Siddique resigned from his position as the General Secretary of AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Artists).

“He contacted me through social media after I completed my Plus Two. It seemed like a fake account, but it turned out to be his own. After the preview show of the movie Sukhamaayirikkatte, he called me for a discussion at the Muscat Hotel. I was 21 years old at the time. He approached me by calling me ‘Mole’ (a term of endearment meaning ‘daughter’ in Malayalam). I never thought he would behave like this. When I went there, he sexually harassed me,” she said.

“It was a trap. He locked me in. I managed to escape from there. Siddique is the number one criminal. Everything he’s saying now is a lie. I heard him speak seriously when the Hema Committee report was released. If he looks in the mirror, he’ll see a criminal. Because of him, I lost my dreams and my mental health. None of the doors I knocked on for help opened,” the actress stated.

Following this, Siddique filed a counter-complaint against the actress. In his complaint to the Police Chief, Siddique stated that the allegations were baseless and part of a criminal conspiracy. Siddique has been contesting that the actress had made different allegations at different times and that the sexual harassment accusation was new. “In 2018, she accused me of using foul language. Later, she alleged harassment,” he said.

Siddique claimed to have only met her during the preview show of Sukhamaayirikkatte and not without her parents. He also denied having any inappropriate conversations or physically harassing her, according to Siddique’s complaint.