Chandrawati Devi of Shivabarwa, Pokhariya Municipality-10, had taken a loan of Rs 100,000 from a local creditor, Phulena Raut, nine years ago. She had taken the loan by using a Kapali Tamsuk document and had already paid the creditor Rs 109,000 as principal and interest. When a small amount of interest was left to be paid, the creditor did not return the Kapali paper and filed a case against her husband Shankar Sah in the district court and issued an arrest warrant.

Before that, Phulena, a creditor, made her brother a creditor and made another Kapali Kagah to borrow an additional Rs 100,000. Now, both Kapali Kagahs have demanded Rs 300,000 to repay the creditor. ‘Even though I have already repaid the loan of Rs 100,000, where can I get the additional Rs 300,000 from the creditor?’ she said, ‘Since an arrest warrant has been issued, my husband is also not allowed to live in the house.’ 

Devraj Raut Kurmi, a 70-year-old neighbor of Chandravati, had borrowed Rs 100,000 from all three creditors, Phulena Raut, four years ago. On Kartik 4, Phulena assaulted Devraj in a public place, demanding interest along with the principal. Devraj, who was unconscious from the pain of humiliation, was admitted to Narayani Hospital in Birgunj for four days after the incident and was able to return home only after returning home. ‘The moneylender insulted me by hitting me in a public place,’ he said, ‘Is justice dead in this country, there is no respect for the poor!’

At a gathering of victims jointly organized by the District Committee of the Meter Interest Victims’ Farmers and Workers Movement and the Microfinance Victims’ Organization in Birgunj on Monday, the victims shared their pain and suffering. 

Shambhu Prasad Yadav, Secretary of the District Committee of the Meter Interest Victims’ Farmers and Workers Movement, accused the government of still failing to provide justice to the meter interest victims and microfinance victims. ‘The number of victims is now double what has been made public,’ he said, ‘the victims have still not been able to get justice.’

Meanwhile, the District Police Office, Parsa, which is working to resolve the transaction disputes with the moneylenders by receiving complaints from the meter interest victims, has claimed that there has been a lot of progress in the case of the meter interest victims’ complaints. 

According to police data, out of 2,367 complaints filed by meter interest victims, 1,697 have been settled as of Monday. In these complaints, the moneylenders have claimed Rs 442.627,383, and the dispute has been resolved by fixing the amount of Rs 291.285,557. Similarly, 40 bighas and 15 katthas of land have been returned to the victims of the moneylenders. 

Parsa Police Spokesperson DSP Hari Bahadur Basnet claimed that numerically, Parsa Police has resolved the highest number of complaints compared to other districts of Madhesh Province. He said that it is difficult to proceed with the investigation process in the case of some complainants as they themselves are out of contact after filing the complaint. Similarly, there is a legal complication that the police cannot look into cases that have been decided by the court when a complaint is filed.