Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Malayalam film actor Sidhique in a rape case registered against him based on a complaint by an actress.
“Application is dismissed,” Justice C S Dias said.
The detailed order giving reasons for rejecting the actor’s plea is not yet available.
In his anticipatory bail plea, he further claimed that she had repeatedly, for the past five years, made unsubstantiated and false claims of sexual misbehaviour and ‘verbal sexual offers’ by him in a theatre in 2016.
“But now she has raised totally contradictory allegation of more serious crime of rape at a different place in the same year,” he had said in his plea.
Multiple FIRs have been registered against many high-profile Malayalam film personalities following allegations of sexual harassment against various directors and actors in the wake of revelations in the Justice K Hema Committee report.
The committee was constituted by the Kerala government after the 2017 actress assault case and its report revealing instances of harassment and exploitation of women in the Malayalam cinema industry.
Following the allegations of sexual harassment and exploitation cropping up against several actors and directors, the state government on August 25 announced the establishment of a seven-member special investigation team to probe them.