The Ernakulam special POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court on Saturday found Ashfaq Alam, a migrant labourer from Bihar, guilty in the rape and murder of a five- year-old girl in Aluva
Special Judge K Soman trying the case booked under the POCSO Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC), on Saturday found the accused guilty of all the offences alleged to have been committed by him. The quantum of sentence would be pronounced on 9 November
The prosecution case was that the accused raped and killed the girl on July 28, 2023. The incident had created widespread outrage in Kerala. The prosecution, led by special public prosecutor G. Mohanraj, had completed the trial in the case within 100 days of booking the FIR.
As many as 48 witnesses, 95 documents and 10 material objects were examined in the case. The investigation was carried out by a 16-member-special squad of the Kerala Police considering the shock and public outcry the incident had created.
The five-year-old girl was on July 28 abducted, brutally raped and killed allegedly by Alam, who lived in the same building as the victim.
Later, her body was found dumped in a sack in a marshy area behind a local market in the nearby Aluva area on July 29.