KOCHI: It is rare for a murder case involving POCSO charges to complete the trial at such speed. The accused was found guilty on the 100th day after the incident. The verdict came on November 14, the 11th anniversary of the enactment of the POCSO Act in the country.
In the Aluva case, the police had to face early backlashes as they started late in searching for the girl even hours after the complaint. This resulted in the same police finding the dead body of the girl covered in a sack with most of her body skewed and broken. This drew huge criticism and also might have given a course correction option for the police to go ahead with lightning speed to complete the investigation. The accused was arrested the day after the body was found.
During the investigation, It was learned that Asafaq Alam was a habitual offender and even had a POCSO case registered in Bihar, but shrewdly escaped police and reached Kerala. The police were able to quickly collect crucial evidence in the Aluva case. The police also raised the demand that the trial should be completed quickly while issuing the charge sheet. The court abided by it and responded with the same speed completing the judgment within record time.