The Madras High Court on Friday, September 29, 2023 dismissed all criminal appeals filed against the conviction and sentences imposed by a trial court in 2011 against a host of officials from the forest, police and revenue departments for the atrocities committed on the residents Vachathi tribal village in Dharmapuri district in 1992.
Justice P. Velmurugan confirmed the conviction as well as punishment ranging from one to seven years of rigorous impirosnment imposed by Dharmapuri Principal Sessions Judge S. Kumaraguru on September 29, 2011. The convicts include Indian Forest Service (IFS) officials who had raided the village for smuggled sandalwood.
Compensation
Justice Velmurugan directed Tamil Nadu government to pay a compensation of ₹10 lakh each to the 18 rape victims and recover 50% of the amount from those who had been convicted for the charge of rape. He also directed government to provide employment and improve the livelihood of all victims of the atrocities.
He further directed the government to initiate appropriate action against the then Collector, Superintendent of Police and District Forest Officer for having failed to take action despite complaints regarding the atrocities.
The Central Bureau of Investigation, had probed the case, on the directions of the Madras High Court in 1995 and filed a charge sheet against as many as 269 accused who included the then Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) M. Harikrishnan, Conservators of Forests P. Muthaiyan and L. Nathan and District Forest Officer S. Balaji.
A host of people including Forest Rangers, Foresters, Forest Guards, Plot Watchers, drivers, Inspectors of Police, Sub Inspectors of Police, Head Constables, constables, Tahsildars, a Taluk Supply Officer, a Zonal Deputy Tahsildar and the Village Administrative Officer were listed as accused before the trial court by investigating officer S. Jagannathan.
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Since it took 19 long years, from the date of the incident, for the trial to complete, as many as 54 accused died pending trial and hence the case against them stood abated. On September 29, 2011, the trial court convicted the 215 surviving accused who included PCCF Mr. Harikrishnan and four other IFS officials.
The charges against them were that they had ransacked the houses of the villagers; assaulted them indiscriminately without sparing even the aged, women and children; raped 18 women; detained the villagers illegally; destroyed their belongings; slaughtered the cattle in the village and threw the carcass in the open wells.
After a full fledged trial, the court had found the accused guilty of various charges under the Indian Penal Code as well as the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989. Pending appeal since 2011, many of 215 convicts too died leaving the High Court to confirm the conviction and sentence only with respect to those who had survived.
