Chennai: Women who were raped by officers during a mission to nab jungle bandit Veerappan are finally getting justice. The Madras High Court on Friday rejected the appeal of the accused in the Vachathi gang-rape case.
The court ruled that all the accused 215 government officials are guilty. Justice P. Velmurugan rejected the appeals filed by the accused since 2011. The judge directed the sessions court to ensure the custody of all the accused at the earliest.
18 young women were raped in June 1992. The court ordered the government to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation to the victims. The court also stated that additional financial assistance should be given to the families of the 3 deceased women.
One rape survivor, who was just 13 then, said she begged the officials to spare her since she was just a schoolgirl, but they ignored her pleas. "They raped us, we were beaten up, all over the village, we could hear people crying and wailing," she said. After they raped us near the lake, they took us to the police station and we were not allowed to sleep the whole night. I was taken to jail along with my sister, uncle, aunt and mother," she added.
When they returned from jail weeks later, they found their grains and vessels thrown out, clothes burnt and carcasses of their cattle floating in the village well.
50 percent of the compensation should be collected from the defendants. The court also pointed out that action is needed for the welfare and job opportunities of the victims and their families and to improve the living standards of the tribals in the Vachati area. The accused in the case are 126 personnel from the forest department, 84 from the police and 5 from the revenue department, including 4 from the IFS.
On that day, the investigation team surrounded Vachathi village saying that they had received secret information that Veerappan was being helped and the sandalwood was kept illegally. The locals had alleged that the officials invaded the houses and raped the women.
Days later, the women complained of being molested during the raid. In 1995, the Madras High Court handed over a petition filed by the CPM to the CBI. The trial court found the accused guilty in September 2011, two decades after the incident.
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