KOCHI: The Ernakulam Additional District and Sessions (atrocities against women and children cases) Court on Tuesday sentenced Bihar native Asafak Alam, 28, to death for the abduction, rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in Aluva. The verdict — pronounced on Children’s Day — will go down in the state’s history as one of the fastest conclusions of proceedings in a criminal case. The trial was completed and sentence pronounced in just 110 days after the gruesome crime on July 28.
Alam, who was brought to the court amid high security, broke down after he learnt about the sentence. The quantum of punishment was announced in the presence of the victim’s parents, who are also from Bihar. The court proceedings will be submitted to the Kerala High Court for confirmation of death sentence. Considering the gravity of the case, ADGP (law and order) M R Ajith Kumar and Ernakulam rural police chief Vivek Kumar were also present in court.
When the proceedings began, Judge K Soman said the court had received a report from the probationary officer in Bihar, which stated that the accused was a problematic person. Initially, the court pronounced smaller sentences, leading the crowd, which included lawyers, police, journalists and civilians, to wonder whether the punishment would be limited to life imprisonment. It was towards the end that the court ordered that Alam be hanged until death, under IPC section 302 for murder.
Victim’s parents welcome judgment
“On an overall view of all the circumstances in this case... and weighing the aggravating circumstances and in the absence of any mitigating circumstance, I have no hesitation to hold that this case is among the ‘rarest of rare’ in which lesser alternative is unquestionably foreclosed and special reasons do exist to award death penalty.
Similarly, the act of the accused by committing multiple rapes on the victim girl aged five years also has to be considered as serious and grave offences requiring adequate sentence proportionate to their gravity. All other offences proved against the accused also have to be dealt with by giving adequate sentences prescribed under the law,” the court observed.
Apart from the death sentence, the court awarded life imprisonment, specifically mentioning “till remainder of his natural life”, under IPC sections 376 (2)(j), 377 and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act sections 5(I), 5(i) and 5(m). The court also sentenced him to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment under IPC sections 366A, 364, 367 and 328.
Other sentences included five years of rigorous imprisonment under IPC section 201, three years under Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act section 77 and one year under IPC section 297. The court slapped a fine of Rs 7.2 lakh on Alam, with the directive that the amount should be handed over to relatives of the victim.
Alam was later taken to the Central Prison in Viyyur. The court directed the District Legal Services Authority, Ernakulam, to provide adequate compensation to the legal representatives of the deceased as the compensation from the fine imposed on the accused would be inadequate considering the loss suffered by them. The victim’s parents welcomed the verdict.
“We thank Kerala, court, police, and lawyers who ensured that the man who murdered our child is punished with death sentence. We are happy with the punishment given to him. We will be waiting to see him hanged. We hope the sentence will be executed without delay,” said one of the parents of the victim. Special Public Prosecutor G Mohanraj said he was confident that the court would sentence the convict to death.
He said the punishment will be a deterrent to people involved in crimes against children. “We worked hard. Concrete evidence was presented in court. We had no doubt that the accused would be awarded maximum punishment,” Mohanraj said. ADGP Ajith Kumar said the case shook the conscience of Kerala. “In this case, both victim and accused are from another state. The speedy investigation, trial and judgment show the robustness of our criminal justice system.
The entire proceedings were completed in just 110 days. The police and prosecution’s success is that this case could be proved as ‘rarest of rare’ in court,” he said. Vivek Kumar, who led the investigation team, said the capital punishment in the case is the result of teamwork. “We are delighted our team’s hard work has yielded result. We were able to conduct a foolproof and time-bound investigation. We are extremely satisfied by the court judgment,” he said.
Crime & punishment
July 28: Asafak Alam abducts the girl from her house in Choornikara. He takes her to a place behind the Aluva market, where she is raped and murdered.
Police register a missing case and start investigation. They take Alam into custody.
July 29: Police record Alam’s arrest. They recover the girl’s body.
September 1: Police file chargesheet at Addl Dist and Sessions Court against Alam.
Oct 3: Trial begins.
Nov 4: Court finds Alam guilty of 16 offences.
Nov 14: Court sentences Alam to death.