Madras HC upholds conviction of 215 accused in Vachathi atrocity case

The Madras High Court on Friday upheld the conviction of as many as 215 men including Police and Forest officials for committing atrocities, including sexual assault, on residents of the tribal village of Vachathi in the Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu. The crime was committed during a raid to hunt down sandalwood smuggled by dacoit Veerappan in the village in 1992.

Justice P Velmurugan dismissed appeals filed by the 215 accused men against the 2011 trial court order that sentenced them to prison terms ranging from one to 10 years. In the shocking incident, 18 women were subjected to sexual assault by the raiding party.

Since the trial dragged on for 19 years, 54 of the 269 people named as accused in the case died before 2011. As many as 126 forest personnel, including four Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers, 84 policemen and five from the Revenue Department were convicted by the trial court in 2011.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had taken over the case in 1995 on the orders of the Madras High Court.

Justice Velmurugan, while ordering stringent action against the then district collector, superintendent of police, and district forest officer, also directed the government to provide an immediate compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the 18 women, who were victims of sexual assault. The judge directed the state government to pay Rs 10 lakh to the rape victims and recover 50 percent of the amount from the accused who committed the offence.

The court also directed the state government to provide suitable employment either by self-employment or permanent jobs to the 18 victims or their family members for their livelihood, which were destroyed by the then government officials.

“The state government shall report to this court regarding the welfare measures taken to improve the livelihood and standard of living of the Vachathi villagers, after this incident,” the judge ordered.

“In order to safeguard the actual smugglers and the big-shots, the revenue officials, police officials and also the forest officials, with the help of the then government, played a big drama, in which the innocent tribal women got affected much and the pain and difficulties faced by them have to be compensated in terms of money and jobs,” the judge said.