Man who raped, killed while on bail given death sentence

A court in Kerala on Tuesday sentenced to death a 29-year-old man for the brutal rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in Aluva, bringing the curtain down on a grisly murder that shook the southern state and sparked sweeping outrage.

Asafaq Alam, a migrant worker from Bihar who was out on bail in connection with a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act for molesting a minor girl in Delhi when he committed the crime in Aluva, was convicted by the court on November 4. He was found guilty on all 16 counts against him, including rape, carnal intercourse against the order of nature, murder, abduction, indignity to human corpse, destruction of evidence and sections 5(m), 5(i), 5(l) of Pocso and section 77 of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act.

On Tuesday, Ernakulam additional district and sessions judge K Soman termed the crime a “diabolical act of utmost sexual violence” which was “pre-planned”, “calculated” and ended in “cold-blooded murder”.

“The cruel tendency of the accused and his total disregard to human life is writ large from the manner of attack and the nature of injuries caused to the dead body revealed from the post mortem report. This incident has created tremble feeling in the society and upset the collective conscience of the community,” the court said.

“... If the accused is permitted to be a part of the society, it would be a threat to girl children, including those who are yet to be born,” the court added.

Special public prosecutor G Mohanraj said the death sentence will be carried out after a confirmation from the high court.