How a nondescript village became scene of horror

DHARMAPURI: It all started when some forest guards, who had gone to Vachathi village near here on June 20, 1992, to unearth smuggled sandalwood and arrest a suspect, were allegedly attacked by some villagers. The same evening a huge police battalion comprising over 100 personnel and more than 160 forest officials accompanied by a few revenue department staff descended on the village to conduct an inquiry.What followed, however, was a brutal attack on the hapless villagers whose belongings were ravaged.“After raping 18 women and arresting the villagers, the forest and police personnel went berserk looting the deserted houses on the night of June 20. The looting continued the next day too and the livestock in the village ended up on the food plates of the marauding force,” recalls P Shanmugam, secretary, Tamil Nadu Tribals Association, who has been in the forefront of the agitation for justice since July 1992.Later, Shanmugam submitted petitions to Collector Dasarathan demanding an inquiry into the alleged rape and raids by forest officials and police personnel. “The collector refused to believe our version prompting us to launch agitations for a judicial inquiry,” he says.At that time, Ramanujam (now ADGP) was the Superintendent of Police in Dharmapuri. “He was not present at the spot when his subordinates conducted the raid. He visited two days later,” says Shanmugam.Bamathi ReportIn her report dated August 19, 1992, then Director, SC and ST Commission, Tamil Nadu,  Bamathi referred to the allegations of rape and said that a woman constable Kannammal, who had accompanied the raiding team, had informed that “the forest officials asked some boys and girls to accompany them to the forest to dig out the sandalwood and 30 girls and 10 boys went with them, but women constables had not accompanied them.”Bamathi had also hinted at an influential sandalwood smuggling racket.