Senior Malayalam actor Siddique resigned from the post of general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), a prominent actors’ body in Kerala, following rape and sexual assault allegations from an actress.
The senior actor said he had sent his resignation letter to the President of the organisation, Mohanlal.
“Yes. I have tendered my official resignation to the president of the organisation, Mohanlal. Since there were allegations against me, I have decided not to continue in the post and resigned,” Siddique said.
A female actor on August 24 alleged Siddique had sexually abused her after inviting her for a movie discussion.
“I was a young entrant in the industry at the time. He invited me into a hotel on the pretext of discussing a film project. Such a movie did not exist. It was a trap. He sexually abused and raped me. He also physically assaulted me. I had to give up my dreams and my time, and I went through a lot of mental trauma,” the actress said in a media briefing.
The allegations came in the wake of the churn in the Malayalam film industry following the release of Justice Hema Committee report, which pointed towards numerous incidents of casting couch and sexual abuse in the field.
The report had revealed instances of harassment and exploitation of women in the Malayalam cinema industry, prompting calls for action against the guilty.
The Committee reported the existence of casting couch (wherein powerful men demand sexual favours from women in return for opportunities in films), frequent suggestive and vulgar comments made by men at the workplace, and drunk male co-actors forcing themselves into rooms of women, among other things.
