CHENNAI: A managing director of a company repeatedly raped a new employee saying it was “common practice in IT culture”. He was arrested in May after the 21-year-old woman pressed charges of rape . On Tuesday, the mahila court sentenced him to 10 years rigorous imprisonment and fined him 26,000.

According to the prosecution, computer science graduate Pooja (name changed) was looking for a job and came to know that Chennai-based World Biz Global Services was recruiting. On March 29, 2012, she met the company’s HR official, who conducted the first round of the interview. A personal interview with the managing director, Antony John Milton, was scheduled for the next day.

During the interview, Milton collected her original certificates and handed over the offer letter which included several conditions. She was asked to reach office everyday by 7.45am attired in fashionable clothes. Milton said that as she was a junior employee, she had to wear above-knee skirts. He promised her a monthly salary of 40,000.

The next day, when she reported for work, Milton asked her to bring tea into his cabin. When she went in, he asked her to strip. Pooja refused. Milton then grabbed her by the hair and dashed her against a glass table. He then sprayed her with some sedative. After she lost consciousness, Milton raped her. When Pooja woke up, she found herself wrapped in a towel. When she confronted Milton, he told her he had made a video of the act which he said he would upload on the internet. He also threatened to kill her mother.

He beat and raped Pooja on several other occasions and also told her to coax new female employees to have sex with him. Unable to bear the agony, on May 1, 2012, she attempted suicide. Her mother and sister, however, came to her rescue and the next day Pooja filed a complaint in the police commissioner office.

A case was registered at the Kilpauk all-woman’s police station. Milton was arrested and remanded in judicial custody. When the case came for pronouncing orders, Mahila Court judge Meena Satheesh found him guilty under Sections 376 (rape), 342 (wrongful confinement), 506 (2) (criminal intimidation) of the IPC along with relevant sections of Tamil Nadu prohibition of Harassment of Women Act and sentenced him to jail.