Kerala: Supreme Court extends interim bail of actor Siddique in sexual assault case

The Supreme Court has postponed actor Siddique's anticipatory bail plea hearing for two weeks due to his lawyer, Mukul Rohatgi's health issues. 

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has postponed the hearing of actor Siddique's anticipatory bail plea in a sexual assault case for two weeks as per the request of Siddique's lawyer, Mukul Rohatgi, who cited health issues as the reason. Rohatgi argued that he was not feeling well and sought an additional day to present his case. During the hearing, Rohatgi mentioned that even a phone from 2016 was being demanded by the police. Justice B. M. Trivedi, leading the two-judge bench, repeated the question of why it had taken eight years to file the complaint.

Kerala's government lawyer, Ranjith Kumar, claimed that Siddique was not cooperating with the investigation, failing to provide evidence, and had deactivated his Facebook account. The court directed Siddique to submit a counter-affidavit to oppose the government's report. Siddique's interim bail will remain in effect until the case is further considered.

Earlier in October, the Supreme Court extended Malayalam actor Siddique's interim anticipatory bail. This decision came after Senior Advocate V Giri, who represented Siddique, requested more time to respond to the Kerala Police's status report opposing Siddique's petition.

Giri mentioned that Siddique has cooperated with the investigation and appeared before the investigating officer following the Court's interim order. However,  Advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the State of Kerala, told the court that Siddique was not cooperating with the investigation and was destroying the evidence.

A day before the court's decision in October, Siddique submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that he appeared before the investigating officer and provided the requested evidence and phone number details. He claimed that he no longer possesses his old phones and does not use an iPad. Siddique alleged that the police have been unlawfully following him, and he has filed a complaint regarding this matter. He also accused some unidentified individuals of tailing him and his family members, allegedly at the direction of senior police officials. He included the police’s written response to his complaint and additional affidavit in his submissions.