Udhagamandalam: The Ooty mahila court on Friday sentenced a youth to life imprisonment till death for raping tribal girl students last year.According to a court source, the convict, Umeshwaran, 27, of Coonoor, was running a small petty shop in a village close to his hometown. “A group of tribal girl students from the area used to visit the shop to buy chocolates, other confectionery and recharge their mobile phones. Umeshwaran approached the girls with a wrong intention.” The source said Umeshwaran befriended four Class X girl students and a Class VIII girl student, and took them to his residence on different occasions. He raped two of them and sexually harassed the remaining three others on several occasions. He also promised to marry them soon. The five victims were not aware that Umeshwaran was maintaining a relationship with other girls.” Based on a tip by some local people, child welfare protection committee officials visited the village in May 2025 and lodged a complaint with the Coonoor all-women police, who registered a case against Umeshwaran, a former member of Tamil Nadu Home Guard and anti-poaching watcher, and arrested him. He was later remanded in judicial custody. The case trial was held before the Ooty mahila court. Judge M Senthil Kumar awarded life imprisonment till death to Umeshwaran on Friday and directed the state govt to pay a compensation of Rs2 lakhs each to sexual assault victims.
