Madras High Court has confirmed the conviction of all the 269 government officials thirty years after they brutalised the tribals and raped 18 women in Vachathi tribal village in Tamil Nadu’s Dharmapuri.
Of the 269 accused, 17 were convicted of the rape of 18 women including a 13-year-old minor and a pregnant woman, a Times of India report said.
While over 50 accused officials passed away during the trial, the sessions court sentenced the rest to one to ten years of imprisonment in 2011. Upholding the conviction, the Supreme Court said, “To save actual smugglers and big shots, the officials played a big stage drama in which innocent tribal women got affected… the pain and difficulties faced by them have to be compensated in terms of money and jobs.”
Hearing the matter, Justice P Velmurugan, also directed the Tamil Nadu government to release Rs 10 lakh compensation to each of the 18 women with immediate effect. This order was given earlier in 2016 by a division bench. The Justice also ordered to recover 50 per cent of the amount from the convicted rape accused.
Reportedly, the state was also ordered to provide either suitable self-employment or permanent job to all the 18 women or their family members. The judge said, “The state shall report to the court on measures taken to improve the livelihood and standard of living in Vachathi village after this incident.”
Justice Velmurugan instructed the Tamil Nadu government to take strict action against the then district collector, superintendent of police and the district forest officer, all of whom failed to do anything against the crime.
Velmurugan said that the witnesses’ evidence made it evident that even though the three officers were aware about the real culprits but chose to not take any action against them and in turn the innocent residents of the village were victimised to protect the culprits.
The sessions court has been directed to immediately seal the custody of all the accused to serve their sentences to completion.
The officials, in 1992, had visited the village to investigate an alleged sandalwood smuggling case and committed the crime in the name of inquiry. The High Court later handed the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation. The CBI filed a chargesheet naming 269 people which also included four Indian Forest Service officers.
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