Arrest Spectre Looms Over Women Borrowers In Odisha Villages

Bhawanipatna: The arrest of four women from Ichchapur village in Kalahandi district for failing to repay loans to a private finance company has raised a question over the impunity with which such lenders carry out their business in Odisha.

Following the incident, Opposition leader Pradipta Kumar Naik accused the state government of laxity towards such private money lending firms. Naik said the government must ink specific agreements with the finance companies before allowing them to set up business in Odisha.

He further said that the government should monitor the companies, who provide easy loans to poor people in the name of SHG and then send the borrower to jail after not getting the arrears within a stipulated time.

Naik alleged that many women borrowers are in fear of being jailed and are trying to repay the loans after selling their properties.

Case in Point

Two years ago, four women of Ichhapur village had taken a loan of Rs 30,000 from a Kolkata-based private firm with an office in Bhawanipatna town.

As per the loan agreement, the borrowers were to repay the principal amount within 26-30 instalments with some interest.

The women alleged that they had already paid up to 20 instalments, but the repayment of the rest of the amount was delayed due to some reasons. In between, the women were served many notices to repay on time, but they failed.

The four women were arrested and sent to Bhawanipatna jail on October 5. After 10 days, the victims were released. The case against them were closed only after the women paid the balance amount.

Victims’ Version

“Before sending my wife to jail, the company should have at least given a few days more so that she could have deposited the arrear,” Ramchandra Naik, a victim’s husband, said. “We had to face a lot of social humiliation when my wife was taken to court all of sudden,” he added.

Keswari Naik, the husband of another victim, alleged that the company’s staffs are threatening other borrowers to repay their loans or else they will have to face the same consequences. “Fearing imprisonment, 40 women of Laxmipur village somehow managed to repay their arrears recently,” he said.

Counter Take

The inspector in-charge of Sadar police station, Pradeep Kumar Dharuan, said police had received a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against the women from a Kolkata metropolitan magistrate. The women were accordingly forwarded to a local court.

Chintamani Pradhan, a field officer with the finance company in Bhawanipatna, said the women had been defaulting on repaying the loan for a long time and action was taken against them as per law.

Ground Reality

Dillip Kumar Das, the chairman of a Bhawanipatna-based NGO, said that to empower village women for their livelihood and to give them relief from Mahajani loans, the state government had initiated a scheme of self-help group some 30 years ago. But later, many private companies started business by luring SHG women with easy loans and then exploited them.

Das said, “Before forwarding the women to court, the local administration should have given them more time. Proper guidelines should be established before such businesses are set up in the state.”