THOOTHUKUDI: In order to curb Kandhu vatti atrocities, activists have urged the state government to amend the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Charging Exorbitant Interest Act, 2003, so that those charging high rates of interest get punished. They said money lenders manage to escape through loopholes in the existing Act.
The schemes of Kandhu vatti in vogue are daily vatti, hourly vatti, rocket vatti, jet vatti, meter vatti, and the rate of interest normally ranges from 5% to 10%. "The money lenders mostly charge the interest on a weekly basis. Tamil Nadu has witnessed several suicides due to Kandhu vatti torture in the past few years and the prosecution rate is very low," said the activists.
According to the activists, money lenders carefully collect a number of signed cheques, promissory notes, and signed empty stamp papers from the debtors as security, which are sufficient to recover the money back. Despite an FIR or arrest, the accused manage to come out within a few days, and threaten the victims.
Rani, a widow who ran a tiffin centre in Kadambur, told TNIE she borrowed Rs 2 lakh from a money lender for an exorbitant interest rate of Rs 2,000 per day in 2020 by pledging four bank cheques. She could not pay regularly after six months. So the lender charged her with meter vatti for the pending interest. "The money lender has drawn Rs 15.3 lakh using her cheques that bounced eventually, and had sent a legal notice demanding the quoted sum to avoid a cheque fraudulent case," said the mother of two girls.
Activist Anto Genious Michael said lenders mainly target the poor families, women, traders, daily wage workers and hawkers, who tend to receive the money at any higher interest due to their emergency situation. "Whenever the victims lodge complaint against the money lenders due to torture, physical harassment or death threats, the police action remains feeble," he said, adding that the Act needs to be amended with stringent provisions.
Advocate Ayyalusamy told TNIE that the unfilled bank cheques are dangerous tools used by the money lenders. "The lenders deposit the cheques at the banks, filling it with several lakhs more than the borrowed money, and make it bounce, so that they manage to implicate a cheque fraudulent case against the debtor," he said, adding that even if FIRs are registered, the police do not conduct a search in the house of the lenders and recover the documents that could be misused by the lenders.
Ayyalusamy further said the kandhu vatti operation against the issue was planned couple of years ago remains in the lurch, and that the maximum punishment of three years should be increased consider the gravity of the cases like suicides.
The activists stated that the state government must amend Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Charging Exorbitant Interest Act so as to detain the accused immediately under the Goondas Act for ensuring the victim's safety. "The amendment should be made to recover the cheques, promissory notes and the stamp papers in possession of the money lenders, and seizure of their properties when found guilty. There should be provisions to alert the court not to entertain cheques cases moved by an usurer, when a kandhu vatti case is pending against him," they added.
Claiming that the police inspectors are friendly with money lenders, the activists said the case must be investigated by DSP or ADSP. Moreover, they want the Act to ensure protection for both the victim and the legal advisor of the case. The government was also urged to check for provisions to bring private micro-financing companies charging exorbitant interest under the ambit of the Act.
