1992 Vachathi brutality case: MHC upholds conviction of 215 govt officials

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday confirmed the judgment given by Dharmapuri sessions against 215 government officials in the 1992 Vachathi brutality case.

Justice P Velmurugan directed the State to give Rs 10 lakhs as compensation to the 18 rape victim families and recover Rs 5 lakhs, which is 50 percent of the compensation, from the rape convicts, while pronouncing judgment.

The judge also directed them to initiate stringent action against the then Dharmapuri collector, Superintendent of Police, and District Forest Officer.

It was on September 1992, a team of 269 government servants including forest officers, revenue officers, and police officers raided the Vachathi, a tribal hamlet near Sitheri hills in Dharmapuri district.

The raid was conducted on alleged information of smuggling of sandalwood illegally by the tribals. However, the raid ended up into rampaging the village and setting out brutality by beating up the tribals, including women and children, who looted their belongings, and 18 victims were raped, during the three days rampage.

The case was transferred in 1995 to the Central Bureau Of Investigation (CBI), and the investigation agency filed a chargesheet against the 269 government servants.

After 14 years on September 29, 2011, the Principal Sessions Court Dharmapuri convicted all the 215 surviving accused, and the punishment imposed was ranging from one to ten years of imprisonment.

Challenging the judgment, the convicted accused moved the Madras High Court for an appeal in 2011.

Exactly after 12 on the same day, the last verdict pronounced by sessions, the Madras High Court confirmed the Session's Court judgment by dismissing all the appeals.