Vachathi case
Shanmugam became the founding general secretary of the Tamilnadu Tribal Association in 1992,an organization advocating for rights for Adivasi peoples (Scheduled Tribes). [2] Soon after the formation of TNTA,the organization under Shanmugam's leadership became embroiled in a three decades long struggle demanding justice in the Vachathi case. [3] [4] On 20 June 1992 a team of 155 forest personnel,108 policemen and six revenue officials had entered the tribal-dominated Vachathi village,searching for smuggled sandalwood and to gather information about the bandit Veerappan. [5] [6] Under the pretext of conducting a search,the team ransacked the villagers' property,destroyed their houses,killed their cattle,assaulted around 100 villagers and raped 18 women. [7]
The incident was unknown beyond the local area,but at a TNTA meeting in the Sitheri Hills in July 1992 local communists informed the TNTA leaders about the attack on Vachathi. [3] Shanmugan led a TNTA team that visited the site on 14 July 1992. [8] [9] They encountered a vandalized ghost village,with most residents having fled. [3] Shanmugam reported the incident to CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP A. Nallasivan,who filed a petition in the Madras High Court on 20 August 1992. [10] Shanmugam continued leading struggles within the court system and in the public to demand justice for the victims of the Vachathi case. [9] [11] The campaign succeeded in gaining national attention,and an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation was initiated. [8] Shanmugam also brought the case to the SC/ST Commission,which in 2007 awarded a compensation of 12,500,000 Indian rupees to the Vachathi case victims in 2007 (distributed among 500 villagers). [6]
The Madras High Court finally passed a verdict on the Vachathi case on 29 September 2023,and Shanmugam was one of the speakers at the public victory celebration organised by the All India Lawyers Union in Chennai on 20 October 2023. [12] Shanmugam authored a book on the case,titled A War Cry of the Lost:A Heroic Saga of Vaachathi. [13]
During the course of the Vachathi case struggle,Shanmugam's role shifted to president of the Tamilnadu Tribal Association. [14] He was also one of the leaders of the tribal people's struggle which led to the enactment of Forest Rights Act,2006 in UPA-I government. [11] [2]
Communist Party of India (Marxist) 