Kochi: The Ernakulam POCSO Court on Tuesday sentenced Ashfaq Alam (28), the lone accused in the abduction, rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in Aluva, to death.
The court accepted the prosecution and police's charge that this was the rarest of rare cases and awarded the capital punishment.
With this, he joins 20 other convicts who are on death row in Kerala. The jail-wise split of death row convicts are: Kannur Central Jail-4, Viyyur Central Jail-4, Viyyur qwHigh-Security Jail-3, Thiruvananthapuram Central Jail-9. Muhammad Amirul Islam, a native of Assam, who killed a law student in Ernakulam; Labalu Hasan, a Bangladeshi citizen convicted in the Chengannur double murder case; and Nino Mathew in the Attingal double murder case are among those sentenced to death.
Although the death penalty is pronounced, the rate of execution is low in the state. Only the Kannur and Thiruvananthapuram jails have gallows. As per the reply given by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the Assembly in March, the state has carried out 26 capital punishments in its history.
The first hanging after the formation of the state was in 1958. Azhakesan, a native of Kaliakavila, was hanged last in Thiruvananthapuram Central Jail in 1974. The last person to be hanged in Kerala was Ripper Chandran in 1991 in Kannur, the chief minister said in his reply.
Arun Sasi, who was found guilty in the Pazhayidom murder case, was the only convict sentenced to death this year.
Convicts sentenced to death:
Thiruvananthapuram Central Jail: Ajith Kumar alias Soju, Anil Kumar (Jacky Anil), Nino Mathew, Girish, Anil Kumar (Koluthu Binu), Arunshashi, K.Jithakumar, Sudheesh, Labalu Hasan.
Kannur: Rajendran, Narendrakumar, Parimal Sahu, Viswanandan.
Viyur: Jomon, Mohammad Amirul Islam, Ranjith, Sunilkumar.
Maximum Security Jail: Raji Kumar, Abdul Nasser, Thomas Chacko.
As per the seventh edition of the 'Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics Report' released by Project 39A, 165 death sentences were imposed by trial courts across India in 2022. This was the highest in a single year since 2000.
As of December 31, 2022, 539 prisoners were on death row. This represented the largest death row population since 2004, as per data published by the National Crime Records Bureau.
Across the world, 113 countries have abolished the death penalty. In the UN, 125 countries voted in favour of a moratorium on the death penalty on December 15, 2022, with India voting against it.
Provision for appeal
Once an appeal of those sentenced to death is received, the High Court will conduct a detailed examination based on Supreme Court guidelines. A special agency consisting of experts has been appointed for this purpose.
An expert team of the medical college will examine the mental condition of those sentenced to death. The convict's behavior in prison, family and social background, change in behavior and adaptability to social life, employment prospects etc will be checked. The High Court takes a decision on the basis of this report. An appeal can be filed in the Supreme Court if the judgment of the High Court is against it. If rejected by the Supreme Court, a mercy petition may be submitted to the President of India. Courts adopt a practice of avoiding the death penalty as much as possible. In 2018, the Supreme Court commuted Anthony's death sentence to life imprisonment.
