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DHARMAPURI: On June 20, 1992, forest department personnel, policemen and six revenue department officials raided Vachathi searching for sandalwood allegedly hidden by villagers. In the name of inquiry, women were assembled under a banyan tree and allegedly beaten up.Meanwhile, 18 women, including a teenage girl were picked up at random, taken to a secluded spot under the guise of conducting investigations and gang-raped. Later, 103 women, including a pregnant lady, and four men were accused of smuggling sandalwood or sheltering the accused and remanded in the Salem Central Prison. “This banyan tree and the Goddess Mariamman temple over there were silent witnesses to the brutalities we were subjected to. Now, we are praying to the Goddess that at least now we should get justice. The entire village has vowed that if the guilty are punished we will hold a temple festival and bedeck the idol of Mariamman with jewels,” says Kandayi, an 80-year-old woman.
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