AIKS Salutes the Women and People of Vachathi who fought for Justice

All India Kisan Sabha salutes the brave women of Vachathi who have waged a relentless battle against perpetrators of gang-rape on them and atrocities on people of the village. The Madras High Court upheld the convictions of Police, Forest and Revenue Officials. The Court ordered 10 Lakh compensation for Rape Victims. The Court has also ordered to provide one government job to a member of each victim family and directed the state government to take stringent action against the District Collector, Superintendent of Police and District Forest Officer. The TN state government has decided to implement the verdict immediately.

On 20th June, 1992, forest personnel, police and revenue officials entered Vachathi on the pretext of searching for smuggled sandalwood and gathering information about the brigand Veerappan. The villagers had nothing to do with sandalwood smuggling or Veerappan but the officials were seeking to falsely implicate them. They unleashed brutality on the Tribal people, destroyed their houses, food grains, killed cattle and even destroyed wells. They did not stop at that; they brutally gang-raped 18 women. It was a prolonged struggle from 1992 to 2011 under the leadership of AIKS, Tamilnadu Tribal Association, AIDWA and CPI-M that 269 people were found guilty and except for 54 guilty who had died during the period, 126 forest personnel, 84 policemen and 5 revenue officials were convicted. This was a landmark judgement in the legal history of India. The officials’ appeal against the conviction was today quashed.

AIKS congratulates all those who have tirelessly worked to ensure justice for the women and people of Vachathi and punish the perpetrators of the heinous crimes. The Vachathi struggle shall inspire generations to come and serve as a warning to criminal officials of the forest, police and revenue department to desist from harassing people.