The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to Malayalam actor Siddique, who was accused of raping an actress. The decision by the apex court comes days after the Kerala High Court, on September 24, dismissed the actor's anticipatory bail application.

During the hearing, Justice Bela M Trivedi questioned why Revathy was silent all this while and why did it take her eight years to file a complaint against Siddique with the police. "You had the courage to post on Facebook but not go to police station?" Justice Trivedi asked.

To that, Revathy's counsel responded that it was the Hema Committee report which gave her client the courage to speak out, as she knew that the claims would follow immense backlash by Siddique's fans on social media. "It is only when she felt there is an authority that will listen, she came forward," the counsel said.

For those unversed, Malayalam actress Revathy had accused Siddique of sexual misconduct in the wake of the Hema Report outrage in Mollywood. The actress had claimed that Siddique had assaulted her in 2016, when she was only 21, and that he had addressed her as his 'daughter' before forcing himself on her.

"Siddique sent me messages on Facebook. I had come to discuss a film. This incident occurred when I was 21 years old. He first approached me by calling me 'Mole' (daughter in Malayalam). There was abuse from Siddique's side. During the discussion, he sexually abused me. The face he shows now is not the one I saw back then," Revanthy had said.

Revathy had also stated that when she sought help from the industry, no one the Malayalam fraternity stood by her against Siddique.

Siddique had vehemently denied the allegations and had filed a complaint against Revathy later with the Kerala Police for tarnishing his image. In his complaint, he had stated that there was "some agenda" behind the actress' statements.