A local court here on Tuesday awarded death sentence to a 29-year-old man for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in Aluva. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan welcomed the court's verdict that came on Children's Day. The conviction and sentence was handed down within four months of the incident and the judge affirmed that the convict Ashfaq Alam did not deserve any leniency.
The heinous crime
On July 28, Alam - a migrant worker from Bihar - abducted, raped and killed the five-year-old victim girl, who lived in the same building. The child's body was found stuffed in a sack in a swampy area behind a local market in Aluva. Alam faced 16 charges, including aggravated penetrative sexual assault, rape and murder under various sections of the POCSO Act and the Indian Penal Code.
The death sentence
The sentence pronounced was against a total of 13 legal provisions which fell under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the POCSO Act. It was delivered on the 110th day after the crime. Meanwhile, the accused can seek an appeal in the Kerala High Court.
The workers at the Aluva market where this ghastly incident took place, after the verdict came burst crackers and welcomed it. Incidentally, the last time that an accused was hanged to death in Kerala was way back in 1992.
