The Madras High Court on Friday dismissed all criminal appeals filed against the conviction of, and the sentences awarded by a trialcourt in 2011 to officials of the Forest, Police and Revenue Departments for theatrocities committed on the residents of Vachathi, a tribal village in Tamil Nadu’s Dharmapuri district, in 1992.
Justice P. Velmurugan confirmed the conviction as well as the punishment, ranging from one to seven years of rigorous imprisonment, imposed by Dharmapuri Principal Sessions Judge S. Kumaraguru on September 29, 2011. The convicts included Indian Forest Service (IFS) officials who had raided the village for smuggled sandalwood. 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; rapedwomen; destroyed their belongings; and slaughtered the cattle and threw the carcass in the open wells.
Since it took 19 years, from the date of the inci-dent, for the trial to complete, 54 accused died pending trial. Hence, the case against them stood abated. On September 29, 2011, the trial court convicted the 215 surviving accused. After a fullfledged trial, the court had found the accused persons guilty of various charges under the IPC as well as the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Pending appeal since 2011, many of the 215 convicts died, leaving the HC to confirm the conviction and sentences of those who had survived.
Higher compensation Though the trial court had
ordered a compensation of ₹15,000 each to the 18 women who were raped and had said the amount could be given from the fine col-
lected from the convicts,
Justice Velmurugan direct-
ed the State government to
pay ₹10 lakh each to the
victims.