KOCHI: In a dramatic incident, Muvattupuzha MLA accompanied by his party workers and residents in the neighbourhood smashed open the lock of a house within hours after the bank authorities evicted two minor girls-- twins, Nandana and Nanditha--when their parents were in hospital and sealed the property.
It all began when the officials of the Muvattupuzha Urban Co-operative Bank attached the property of the family belonging to the Dalit community and sealed the house at around 1 pm on Saturday. They asked the twin sisters who were inside their home to vacate their house located at Muvattupuzha's Paipra Panchayat's 12th Ward. The reason: their father Ajeesh, who is undergoing treatment for a heart ailment at a hospital, had defaulted on a Rs 1 lakh loan amount.
When the attachment happened with the help of the police, their mother was also at the hospital while their two younger sisters were at a relative's place.
The incident drew flak from the residents nearby who informed Mathew Kuzalnadan, the Congress MLA, about the fact that there was no place to go for the girls. Kuzhalnadan along with local residents smashed open the lock of the house at around 9 pm on Saturday and took the children inside.
"How can a bank lock and throw out the two minors when their parents were not in the house? They may have the court order, but they should have shown some humanity while making such a move, " said Kuzhalnadan.
The MLA said he waited for over an hour for the bank employees to return the key to the kids, but they didn't show up. "Following this, I decided to smash open the door. If we didn't do it, where would the Dalit family with their four children go in the dead of the night?" he asked.
Kuzhalnadan said the kids' father was admitted to Ernakulam general hospital due to some heart issues and the mother was also with him. "When the attachment happened, only the elder sisters were there. The other two kids were in the relative's house. It is a matter of just Rs 1 lakh. How could they do such an unprofessional act? No court in the country would support such an act, " added Kuzhalnadan.
The minor girls told TNIE that they were threatened by the bank employees and the police who reached to attach the property. "The officials asked two of us to vacate the house along with the schoolbags and books. They said they came to attach the property. Though the local people tried to stop it, the officials attached the property with the help of the police," said Nandana, one of the twin sisters, who studies in the 10th standard.
Meanwhile, the bank's president and CPM state committee member, Gopi Kottamurikkal, termed the incident as "politically motivated".
"Mathew Kuzhalnadan knows me personally. If there was such an issue, he should have called me to explain the matter. If he had done so, the matter could have been amicably settled, " said Kottamurakkal, even as he justified the bank attachment.
"The property was attached purely based on the court order. It was only after the situation worsened that I came to know that the parents were not there when the attachment took place. No one informed the officers of their father's health condition," the CPM leader said.
Congress to repay the default amount.
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Mathew Kuzhalnadan said Congress has decided to repay the poor family's loan amount. The MLA also informed that the house owner's treatment expenses would be borne by the party.