The district's meter-billing victims have once again taken to the streets, complaining that they have not received justice from the police, administration and courts. They have organized a press conference in Chandranigahapur, saying that moneylenders have started abusing the borrowers and have complained that they have not received any help when they sought justice.

Narayan Ghimire of Chandrapur Municipality-4 had borrowed Rs 500,000 from local businessman Ram Babu Prasad Kalwar on November 27, 2018. But he complained that the police administration and the court did not provide any help for justice, saying that even after paying Rs 2.7 million with interest, he did not return the Kapali Tamsuk paper and filed a case.

'We had appealed to the police saying that injustice had been done. On the contrary, businessman Kalwar filed a case in court,' he told reporters, 'Now we have to suffer even from the court.' He said that society should boycott such meter-billing. The businessman Kalwar was arrested by the police a week ago on charges of unfair transactions. He used to give loans through checks and take cash from the borrowers when receiving money.

Recently, victims of metered rate (unfair transactions) in the inner villages have been wandering for justice. The victims complain that they have been uncooperative from the police, administration and courts while seeking justice.

The network of metered rate borrowers has spread very deep in Rautahat. Locals who took small loans for their daughter's marriage, treatment of patients or foreign employment are now facing homelessness due to the extortion of crores of rupees, said Bivashankar Mahato, in-charge of the Bhojpura Command of the Kisan-Majdur Andolan against Metered Rate. ‘We are already victims of moneylenders, but when we approach the police administration and the court to seek justice, we are facing injustice,’ he said, ‘now we are fighting the last battle for justice.’ 

According to the victims, problems such as making a Kapali Tamsuk three to four times more than the amount taken as metered money, threatening to arrest them by filing a case of check bounce, and filing a case without returning the Tamsuk even when the loan is repaid have been seen more frequently.  Even though the government has amended the law to make metered money a crime, victims who have filed complaints with the Rautahat District Administration Office and the police have complained that they have not received the expected justice. 

‘We go with complaints, but the administration pressures us to settle,’ said a victim woman, ‘The metered moneylenders are walking around openly, and instead threaten us in front of the police.  But instead of arresting them, the police send them back saying that they do not have enough evidence.’ 

In-charge Mahato alleges that the real victims are always in the shadows because the meter-billers who have access to administrative bodies get political protection and financially entice employees. In some cases, they say that the verdicts from the courts have made the victims even more sad. Bodhkumari Giri, a meter-bill victim from Chandrapur-5, said that the victims are losing their ancestral property when the meter-billers take the pre-arranged documents (tamsuk) as the main basis for the verdict.

‘Paper speaks, not the pain of the people. Justice should not be seen only on paper, but in practice, wiping away the tears of the victims,’ she said. ‘The court should look at the depth of the transaction and the interest cycle, but when the numbers on the tamsuk are given, the poor are being deprived of their homes.’ Should the lender find a source of the millions of rupees to give or not?' After seeing all the doors of justice closed, the meter interest victims are forced to walk to Kathmandu and stage sit-ins repeatedly. The problem of unfair transactions in Rautahat has developed into not only an economic problem but also a social stigma.