What is the 1992 Vachathi brutality all about? | Explained Premium

Vachathi was witness to spine chilling violence unleashed by a posse of officials from the forest, police and revenue department on hapless residents of a tribal village suspecting them to be smugglers of sandalwood

The story so far: Vachathi is a tribal village situated 17 km away from Taluk headquarters Harur in Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu. In 1992, the total population of the hamlet was 655 of whom 643 belonged to Malayali scheduled tribe community. Only 12 people were from other castes. There were around 200 houses, including 120 group houses built under the Centre’s Integrated Rural Development Programme. There was cultivable area of 261.18 hectares in the village and around 190 people owned lands. The rest of the 466 were landless labourers.

The village was situated on the foot of Chitheri hills. The Thombakkal Reserve Forest and Pallipatti Reserve Forest were situated adjacent to it. Though agriculture was the main activity, the tribals also collected minor forest produce and firewood from the forests. Some also visited nearby villages to serve as daily wage agricultural labourers. On the land available in the village, they mainly cultivated ragi, tapioca, rice and other cereals.

The reserve forests on Chitheri hills were rich in sandalwood and there were complaints of large-scale felling and theft of sandalwood from this area. Since it was on the foothills, Vachathi was considered the starting point for transportation of the smuggled sandalwood procured from illegally from the Chitheri hill region. Smuggling of the precious wood was turning out to be a menace for the forest department and a cause of concern for the State government. Hence, special squads were formed for combing operations.

On May 25, 1992, L. Nathan took charge as Deputy Conservator of Forests in Chitheri hill range. He held discussions with the police officials regarding the steps to be taken for prevention of sandalwood smuggling. On June 14, 1992, he met the then Dharmapuri Collector and Superintendent of Police. According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the officer requested for police protection to raid Vachathi. He also mobilised a huge pose of forest personnel for the raid on June 20, 1992.

When the raid took place to recover smuggled sandalwood, the forest officials accused the villagers of having assaulted them in which one forest officer suffered grievous injuries and 23 others suffered minor injuries. They claimed that the raid party was kept in captivity for three hours and was beaten up by the villagers, including women.

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It was after this, a much larger posse of 269 forest, police and revenue officials descended in the village and ransacked the houses indiscriminately. The aged, women and children were thrashed mercilessly. Their household articles and agricultural implements were destroyed. As many as 18 women were taken to a secluded place and raped. The village head, revered by the residents, was forced to remove the clothes of women and the latter were made to slipper him. The raid party did not even spare the cattle in the village. They slaughtered the animals and threw the carcass into open wells, the villagers complained.