MN
The Madras High Court dismissed the plea for a further appeal in the Vachathi case and pronounced the final verdict today. The Court upheld the judgement by the Dharmapuri District Sessions Court and ordered a compensation amount of 10 lakh rupees to 18 women who were raped in Vachathi village in Dharmapuri district on June 20, 1992. The Judgement said that 5 lakh rupees in the compensation should be collected from those accused in the case. The Judge recommended government jobs for all the families affected by the violence and asked the Government to render assistance for the Vachathi victims towards self employment and help them with social welfare schemes.
The Judge also said that action should be taken against the then District Collector, District Superintendent of Police and also the District Forest Officer. The case pertains to the hunt for Veerappan and his aides in the Forest of Dharmapuri district where Vachathi Village is situated.
The incidents happened when there was an aggressive search for the forest brigand began at the Vachathi village where 18 women were raped and there was violence. In 1995, the case was transferred to CBI in which 155 officials including forest officers, 108 police officials and 6 revenue officials were accused of sexual and other types of violence. The Charge Sheet was filed in 1996 and the case was heard in Coimbatore and Krishnagiri Courts. It was later transferred to Dharmapuri District sessions Court. As 54 of the accused had passed away during the period of trial, 12 of them were given ten years and five were given seven years imprisonment. The remaining accused were given one to three years imprisonment in the verdict announced on September 29, 2011. The judgement was appealed in the Madras High Court and the case came up for hearing before Judge Velumurugan who postponed the verdict on February 24th this year. He wanted to personally visit the areas where the incident took place before pronouncing the final judgement.