Siddique.
Credit: X/@wilson
Thiruvananthapuram: Actor Siddique is likely to appear before the special investigation team probing the sexual assault case against him as the Supreme Court on Monday granted interim protection to him from arrest.
Sources said that once the copy of the SC order was received Siddique would appear before the special investigation team for quizzing, possibly by Tuesday.
Even as the Kerala High Court rejected anticipatory bail to Siddique last week, he was evading a police arrest by going into a hideout. The special investigation team had also issued a look out notice for him.
Siddique, who had resigned from the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) general secretary post following the sexual allegation, is an influential actor in the Malayalam film industry. Hence there were criticisms that his arrest was deliberately delayed.
Kerala higher education minister R Bidhu denied the criticisms. She also said that the delay in filing petition should not become a reason for denying justice to sexual assault victims.
A woman alleged that Siddique sexually assaulted her at a hotel in Thiruvananthapuram in 2016 January after inviting her for discussion on giving roles in films. The SIT already collected evidence in support of the woman's statement.
Fresh case
Meanwhile, the SIT registered a sexual assault case against a senior make-up manager on the basis of a statement given by one of his former assistants to the Justice Hema committee.
The case was registered against make-up manager Saji Koratty at Ponkunnam police station in Kottayam district. Various section of the IPC for sexual harassment and stalking were invoked against him.
The Kerala HC had recently directed the SIT to take action based on the Hema committee report. The court also criticised Kerala government for not taking action on the crimes revealed in the Hema committee report even nearly five years after the report was submitted.