The Kerala High Court, on Tuesday, dismissed the anticipatory bail application filed by Malayalam actor Siddique in a case relating to sexual assault of an actress.

Siddique has been charged with offences under Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on a complaint by the actress.

Dismissing the bail plea moved, a single bench of Justice Justice C S Dias said the complaint of the actress is serious and there is prima facie evidence of the actor’s involvement in the case. The petitioner must undergo custodial interrogation to ensure a thorough investigation of the crime. This is particularly important since i) the petitioner completely denies the incident, ii) a potency test is required, and iii) the prosecution had reasonable concerns that he may intimidate witnesses or tamper with evidence.

The further court said that the submission made by the senior counsel representing the actor that the complainant lacks credibility as she is an ‘outspoken and vociferous lady who has made unsubstantiated allegations against fourteen men’ was unwarranted.

“A woman’s experiences of sexual assault are not a reflection of her character but rather an indication of her suffering. The attempt to blame a woman for speaking out may be a strategy to silence her, which is hostile to the supremacy of law.”

The delay in reporting sexual abuse and assault, it said, should be understood in the context of the trauma survivors experience.

The court has also taken into account the fact that when the complainant opened up about the harassment on Facebook in 2019, she received threatening messages and lost her courage to move forward.

The high court also regretted the government’s silence on the Hema Committee Report, which disclosed the allegations of widespread sexual harassment and other issues faced by women in the Malayalam film industry, for five long years.

“The government of Kerala had appointed an Expert three-member Committee headed by Justice K Hema, a former Judge of this court, to study and report the issues faced by women in cinema and suggest solutions to their problems. Although the expert committee submitted the report to the government in 2019, it maintained a sphinx-like silence for five years. The report saw the light of day only after the intervention of this court,” the high court observed.

The Court, however, said it would not comment on the aspect of the government shelving the report and the future course to be taken with regard to the report, as a division bench is already examining the matter.

The complainant said the actor allegedly raped her at the Mascot Hotel in Thiruvananthapuram in 2016. The offences alleged in the FIR registered against him are under Section 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The Special Investigation Team (SIT) is probing the case.

In his petition, actor 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 false claims of “attempted sexual misconduct” and “verbal sexual propositions” by the petitioner at a theatre in 2016.

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 of the complainant, which he argues demonstrate that throughout the years, her allegations consistently referenced attempted sexual misconduct and verbal prepositions at the theatre in 2016.

Legal sources said there are no barriers for the police to arrest Siddique, despite his plan to file an appeal in the Supreme Court for interim relief. The Kochi Police have been instructed by the Crime Branch chief to proceed with the arrest without waiting for the Supreme Court’s decision.

Meanwhile, the Kerala Police issued a lookout circular and intensified the search to arrest Malayalam actor Siddique after the Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed t his anticipatory bail petition .The lookout circular was issued at airports to prevent the actor from fleeing the country.