The Madras High Court on Friday upheld the order of lower court convicting and sentencing 215 persons, including Forest and Police personnel for atrocities on tribals, including sexual assault of women, during a raid for smuggled sandalwood in Tamil Nadu’s Vachathi village.
The HC dismissed the appeals filed against the order of a lower court in Dharmapuri which held 215 men guilty. It sentenced them to prison terms ranging from 1-10 years.
Justice P Velmurugan also directed providing an immediate compensation of Rs.10 lakh to 18 women, who were victims of sexual assault during the infamous incident in Dharmapuri that sent shockwaves across the state.
Therefore, the counsel for the victims stated that court directed recovering Rs 5 lakh from those accused of rape.
The Dharmapuri court held as guilty 126 forest personnel, including 4 IFS officers, 84 men from police and 5 from the revenue department in connection with the 1992 case which was probed by the CBI later.
Out of the 269 accused, 54 died during the pendency of the trial.
