Malayalam actor Siddique, who was serving as the general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), resigned on Sunday following allegations of sexual misconduct by actress Revathy Sampath. Siddique is a popular actor who has appeared in over 300 Malayalam films. He has also acted in Tamil films like ‘Jana’ and ‘Bhaskar Oru Rascal’.
A source told The New Indian Express: “He has sent a letter to the association president Mohanlal informing him of his voluntary resignation from the post on Sunday morning.
Siddique He reportedly told ONmanorama: “I am resigning from the post in light of the allegations against me.”
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What happened to Revathy Sampath?
In an interaction with the media, Revathy claimed that the incident happened when she was 21 years old. She claimed that Siddique initially contacted her through Facebook and called her “Mole”, a term often used in Kerala to refer to a girl or daughter.
“After completing my Plus Two, I had a terrible experience. Siddique messaged me on Facebook. He had come to discuss a film. This incident happened when I was 21. He first approached me calling me ‘Mole’. There was abuse on Siddique’s part. During the argument, he sexually abused me. The face he shows now is not the one I saw back then,” Revanthy said.
The actress, who alleged that Siddique had sexually abused her, both physically and mentally, said, “He assaulted me, both physically and mentally. Siddique is a criminal. I went through severe mental trauma. It even affected my professional life. No system supported me. It took me a long time to speak up. After the assault, Siddique acted as if nothing had happened and stood in front of me as if it was normal. Everyone responded as if it was a common thing. It seemed like everyone had done it knowingly.”
Speaking about how she managed to escape the situation, the actress added: “I ran out to escape. I reacted as best as I could at that age. He said there was nothing I could do. I ran out, managed to get into a car and escaped.”
Siddique on the Hema Committee report
Siddique’s resignation comes in a context of Hema Committee Report This has led to talk of sexual misconduct in the Malayalam film industry.
Earlier, Siddique said they have been accused of remaining silent and there has been no response from AMMA on the report.
“I have been in the industry for the last four decades and I can say with absolute conviction that there is no power group as mentioned in the report because this is a film industry and there cannot be such groups, neither is there a casting couch… We have no qualms that if there is any wrongdoing anywhere, it has to be investigated and we want to arrest the wrongdoers if there are any,” Siddique said.
(With contributions from the Agencies)
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