A 5-year-old girl was sexually assaulted and killed by her neighbour in the Ernakulam district of Kerala. The child’s body was dumped in a sack on Friday and was found the next day as the accused confessed to the crime.
The girl, whose family migrated from Bihar to Kerala, had been missing since Friday evening. When her parents came back from work to their rented apartment, the daughter was nowhere to be found. The accused, identified as Ashfaq Aslam, was caught through the CCTV footage that showed him luring away the 5-year-old.
The Superintendent of Police, Ernakulam, Vivek Kumar told the media that Aslam was seen taking the child with him in the footage and was taken into custody at 9.30 PM. According to the SP, the accused was unable to talk as he was drunk, causing the investigation to be delayed.
Aslam confessed on Saturday morning and gave the details to the police. He had recently shifted to the building where the child lived with her family.
Someone in a nearby market saw Aslam with the girl and informed the police after coming across a Facebook post. He said that he had questioned the accused about the child to which Aslam replied that the girl was his daughter and he was on his way to buy a drink from the area behind the market. The witness also stated that the child had some candy in her hands.Â
After the police received this information, a search operation was conducted in the area behind the market. As the search went on, social media was gaining massive engagement, attempting to find the girl.
SP Kumar said that the police were trying to find out if more people were involved in the crime. He also stated that they were in touch with the Bihar Police in order to find out if the accused had any criminal history.
The opposition in Kerala criticizes the police
The opposition party in the state, Congress, strongly criticised the state police, accusing them of negligence in locating the missing child. V D Satheesan, the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, expressed his concern that the child was present within Aluva town itself but wasn’t found promptly.
He further alleged that the police did not take appropriate action even after it became evident that the child had been abducted. Satheesan expressed deep concern about the safety of children in the present times and blamed the police for their lack of vigilance in handling such cases. Additionally, he pointed out that the increase in drug and alcohol usage was contributing to such crimes.
Satheesan urged the Left government to take decisive measures to control the prevalence of liquor and drugs in society and criticized them for not being cautious enough despite being aware of the child’s abduction.
The Kerala police, today, apologized to the girl’s family on social media as they were not able to reunite her with them. Meanwhile, they also rejected the opposition charges against them.
The girl’s body was later kept at the school where hundreds paid their respects and demanded that the accused should be hanged to death. KPCC chief K Sudhakaran appealed to the government to offer suitable compensation to the child’s family. Several ministers including V Sivankutty, Veena George, and P Rajeev denounced the heinous crime and expressed profound grief and sympathy for the victim.
Meanwhile, the crime has sparked anger and indignation in Kerala. The Kerala Police expressed their remorse on their Facebook page with the message: “Makale mappu (Daughter, forgive us).”
