The Madras High Court’s judgment, on September 29, 2023, upholding the human rights of the people of Vachathi in Tamil Nadu is remarkable — as a constitutional court, it unmasked and recognised that coordinated and large-scale repression by uniformed forces cannot take place without orders from or complicity at the top levels of the government.
The court said, “In order to safeguard the actual smugglers and the big-shots, the revenue officers, police officials and also the forest officials, with the help of the then Government, played a big stage drama (sic), in which the innocent tribal women got affected.” In the context of the large-scale violence we see today by law enforcement agents on the common man, the decision assumes importance. The repression of the anti-Sterlite protests, the student protests in Jawaharlal Nehru University and elsewhere, the bulldozer raj in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, the repression against tribals and the violence in Manipur are but a few instances.
The villagers of Vachathi have created history and the court verdict is testament to their resolve. it is an assertion of their dignity. This is among the rarest cases in the annals of legal history where all 215 accused (the survivors of the 269 accused), government and law enforcement personnel stand convicted en masse of offences under The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and the Indian Penal Code. Rigorous imprisonment ranging from one to 10 years with fine has also been imposed.
