Aluva minor rape, murder case: Kerala court sentences accused to death

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A Kerala court sentenced a man to death for raping and killing a minor girl in Aluva. According to the PTI report, Ashwaq Alam, a migrant worker, was sentenced to death by a special POCSO court judge.

Reportedly, the Special POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court judge, K Soman, gave him the highest punishment for the rape and killing of a 5-year-old girl from Bihar.

The sentence was announced on Children's Day, also marking the 11th anniversary of the POCSO Act's enactment on November 14, 2012. The victim's parents were present during the sentencing, the report added.

According to the report, the prosecution argued for the death penalty and stated that the case falls under the rarest of rare categories. Reportedly, Alam, who was convicted on November 4, claimed in court that while others involved were let go, he was the only one caught. He offered no further submissions.

Alam, according to the report, was found guilty of all 16 charges in the chargesheet, with five offences punishable by death.

The minor girl was abducted from her rented home in Aluva on July 25, and her body was later discovered in a nearby marshy area three days later. The girl was brutally raped and later strangled to death. The accused was arrested based on CCTV footage.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kerala police, which was constituted to probe the case, submitted an 800-page charge sheet against the accused in POCSO court on September 2. The probe and trial were completed in a span of three months.

The child was later found after a search conducted by the local residents who saw the accused kidnapping the child, and the child's family in Edapparum and surviving on miscellaneous jobs for the last ten years.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinaryai Vijayan had termed the incident an "isolated one" and accused the Opposition in the state of trying to 'tarnish' the image of the government, stated another agency report.