Well-renowned Malayalam cinema actor Siddique has recently filed a police complaint in Kerala against actress Revathy Sampath after she came up with some serious allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Officials from the Kerala Police confirmed the filing of the complaint on Monday after Revathy Sampath accuses Siddique.
“The actor filed his complaint with the police,” said a spokesperson for the Kerala Police, against Revathy Sampath, who had, earlier, said that the actor had harassed her sexually. At his instance, the complaint has been forwarded for further action to the Director General of Police.
This has come in the background of a public accusation by actress Revathy Sampath, in which she mentioned that Siddique, who is now occupying the powerful position as general secretary for the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists, had misbehaved with her. The foul allegations have taken center stage in the media and created a lot of public debate.
Narrating the shocking incident to the media, Sampath said it happened when she was 21 years old. She told how Siddique had first contacted her through Facebook. He used to address her as “Mole,” which in Kerala is used to address a small girl or daughter. That, said Sampath, was only the first of several disturbing contacts.
“After my Plus Two,” Sampath recounted, “it was a harrowing experience. Siddique sent me messages on Facebook. I had come to discuss a film with him. This happened when I was 21 years old. He first approached me and called me ‘Mole.’ He has sexually abused me at the time when the discussion was going on. The person he was projecting now is not a person that I met during that time.”
She has accused him of sexually, physically, and mentally abusing her, saying, “He has assaulted me, both physically and mentally. I underwent immense mental trauma due to Siddique. This has affected my professional life also. Yet, I got no support from the system for what I have gone through. It took me so long to muster the courage to speak up. Even after the assault, the fellow behaved as if nothing had happened and continued to behave with me as though it was normal. The responses of the people around us felt like they were co-leading or ignoring it.“
More explainingly, she said how she escaped the situation. “I ran away to escape,” she said. “At that young age, I did my best to respond to the situation. Siddique told me that there was nothing I could do. I fled, managed to get into an auto, and escaped from the scene.”
Siddique is one of the most popular faces in the Malayalam film industry, with more than 300 films to his credit. He has also lent his talent to Tamil cinema and appeared in films like “Jana” and “Bhaskar Oru Rascal”. The recent developments that have caused a stir do rise above many such complex cases of sexual harassment prevailing in the industry.
The Kerala Police will now be responsible for investigating the complaint and examining the allegations of Sampath. The case is still on.
ANI
