Aluva child rape and murder: Kerala court sentences convict to death

One hundred and ten days after a minor girl was brutally raped and killed in Kerala's Aluva, a special court here on Tuesday sentenced a migrant worker to death in the case. The court said the convicted man is a ''paedophile'' and if ever set free, he may pose a threat to minor girl children, including those yet to be born.

Terming the crime a ''diabolical act of utmost sexual violence'' which was ''pre-planned'', ''calculated'' and ended in ''cold-blooded murder'', the court said it has no hesitation in holding that the case was one among the rarest-of-rare in which special reasons do exist to award death penalty to the accused.

Judge K Soman, presiding over the Special POCSO (Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences) court, said the five-year-old girl was abducted, fed liquor, repeatedly raped, subjected to unnatural intercourse and her body defaced and concealed in garbage after she was killed.

The court said the entire act of the convict -- Asafak Alam (28) -- ''revealed the traits of outrageous criminality'' and his premeditated action.

In a crowded courtroom, the judge declared that Alam should be hanged to death.

Asafak Alam is from Bihar and so is the child he raped and murdered. ''For the offence under section 302 of the IPC, the accused is sentenced to death and I direct that he be hanged by the neck till he is dead,'' the judge said.

In the verdict, welcomed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his cabinet colleagues, the opposition and society as a whole, the court said the brutal mindset of the highest order is obvious from the facts and circumstances of the case.

''The cruel tendency of the accused and his total disregard for human life is writ large from the manner of attack and the nature of injuries caused to the dead body,'' the court said.

The court said the incident not only ''upset the collective conscience of the community'', it also created a ''trembling feeling'' in the society.

In the order, the judge also referred to Nelson Mandela's words -- ''The true character of a society is revealed in how it treats its children.'' The court further said that as argued by the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP), if the convict was permitted to be a part of the society he would be a threat to girl children, including those who are yet to be born.

''Considering the above facts and circumstances, I am of the view that this court will be failing in its duty if the maximum punishment prescribed under the law is not imposed on the accused,'' the judge said in his 197-page judgment, which also contains the conviction of the accused. The judge further said that in accordance with the dictum laid down by the Supreme Court regarding instances of sexual violence against children and the legislative approach of introducing death penalty in the POCSO Act, he was of the view that the victim, society and legislative-centric approach call for the maximum punishment in a case of this nature. The court also handed down five life terms to the convict for various charges including rape and aggravated penetrative sexual assault under the Indian Penal Code and POCSO Act, respectively.

Additionally, the court also sentenced him to varying jail terms from one year to 10 years for various offences, including kidnapping, procuration of a minor girl, causing hurt and destruction of evidence under the IPC.

The court said that the convict will first serve the term sentences concurrently and then his life term would begin which would continue for the remainder of his natural life.

Special Public Prosecutor G Mohan Raj said the execution of the death sentence is contingent upon confirmation by the Kerala High Court.

The death sentence would be carried out, while the convict serves the jail terms, once he exhausts all his legal appeals against today's verdict.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 7.3 lakh on the convict.

The court rejected the arguments of the defence for a lesser sentence on the grounds of his age, family background, lack of education, his socioeconomic status, health condition and mental make-up among others.

It pointed out that the victim and her family were from the same socioeconomic background as the convict and that his health and mental condition were normal according to jail authorities.

It also noted that the offences were not committed by Alam under any extreme mental or emotional disturbance and according to the prosecution, the crime was the outcome of his ''paedophilic mindset''.

The court said that the convict misused the faith reposed on him by the girl who belonged to the same state as him and was happily following him as seen from the CCTV footage after getting a packet of mango juice.

''She might have thought that the uncle was taking her to a more pleasant and joyful atmosphere and she was not aware of the deceitful means and the evil object of the accused,'' it said.

The cruel acts of the multiple rape after administering alcohol to a five-year-old child, strangulating her to death and burying the dead body in garbage etc does not entitle the convict to any leniency based on his age, the court said.

''As discussed earlier, he has committed the diabolical act of utmost sexual violence against a five-year-old girl. Therefore, the probability or possibility that he would not commit any cruel act of violence cannot be seen from his previous conduct.

''If he is permitted to be free at any point of time it is sure that he would commit much graver offences and may be a threat to the society especially minor girl children,'' the court said.

The court further said that such a person cannot be expected to be reformed or rehabilitated by passage of time.

''Instead, he was becoming worse in his actions since his involvement in a criminal case in 2018,'' it said referring to Alam's arrest in a POCSO case in 2018 for molesting and sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl in Delhi.

He had spent a month in jail before getting out on bail, the court noted in its order.

Alam was given death sentence on a day celebrated as Children's Day across the country. The day also marks the 11th anniversary of the POCSO Act, which came into effect on November 14, 2012.

Following the order of the sentence, Vijayan said the punishment given on Children's Day should be seen as a strong warning to those who commit violence against children.

The parents of the victim thanked Kerala society for ensuring justice for their five-year-old daughter.

Giving details of the incident, the court said that Alam had on July 28 ''deceitfully'' lured the girl from her house by promising her sweets and thereafter, took her a long distance away by giving her juice.

When a person questioned the child's presence with him, he had claimed to be her father which indicated his ''premeditated and purposeful act'', it said.

It also noted that he gave alcohol to the child to prevent any probable resistance from her, brutally raped her multiple times and then without any provocation strangulated her using her own dress.

''He did not stop there. The dead body was covered with garbage or waste materials and also granite stone pieces after defacing the dead body,'' the court said.

The child lived with her parents in the same building as the convict.

When the child was reported missing, CCTV visuals of the area showed the girl was with him and he was apprehended the same evening. However, he could not be questioned by police as he was in an inebriated state, the police had said.

People celebrated the order in some parts of Aluva by bursting firecrackers and distributing sweets.

Public reactions on news and social media were unanimous in welcoming the punishment given to the convict.