The Madras High Court has upheld the lower court's decision to convict 215 people in the case of sexual harassment of women and atrocities on tribal people in Vachathi village in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Forest department and police department employees are also among those convicted in this case.

The accused are accused of misbehaving with the people of the village during the raid against sandalwood smuggling.

The Madras High Court on Friday, September 29, 2023, rejected the appeal filed by Dharmapuri against the lower court's decision.

In this decision, 215 people found guilty were sentenced to jail ranging from one year to ten years.

According to the report of news agency PTI, on Friday, September 29, 2023, Justice P Velmurugan also directed to immediately give compensation of Rs 10 lakh to 18 female victims of sexual harassment.

This incident in Dharmapuri had shocked the entire Tamil Nadu.

Justice P Velmurugan has also said in his decision that if a victim has died then the compensation amount should be given to his family.

"Action should be taken against the District Magistrate, District SP and District Forest Officer and the government should compensate the affected families."

The victims' lawyer said that the court has also ordered to recover Rs 5 lakh from the rape accused.

In this case, Dharmapuri court had convicted 126 forest department employees in 2011.

Of these, four officers were from the Indian Forest Service, 84 people were police employees, five were people from the Revenue Department.

The investigation of this incident of 1992 was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Out of 269 accused in this case, 54 died during the trial.

12 accused in the case were sentenced to ten years in jail, five to seven years and the rest to one to three years in jail.

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