Man sentenced to life for raping college girl

A Mahila court here today sentenced a 28-year-old man to life imprisonment for raping a college girl on the pretext of helping her locate her lover, holding the act as 'heinous than a murder'.
Judge M P Subramanian also sentenced Selvam, a painter, to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment for abducting the girl and imposed a fine of total Rs 1.20 lakh. Both the sentences will run concurrently.
The prosecution case was that the 20-year-old girl, a resident of Peelamedu here and doing BCom in a private college, was waiting for her lover at a ground attached to a park on October 10, 2010.

As he did not come for a long time, the girl asked Selvam, who was present in the park, to lend his phone to talk to her lover.
Since there was no response to her phone call, Selvam offered to take her in his two-wheeler and search for her lover. Believing him, the girl went with him.
Later, he took her to his house under the pretext of searching for the lover next day and "sexually assaulted" her.
The girl escaped from Selvam's house next day and narrated the incident to her mother, who lodged a police complaint.
Delivering the judgement, the judge termed Selvam's act as heinous than that of a murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment and pay the fine amount to the girl.