KOLKATA: A 43-year-old woman was last month abducted by car loan recovery agents in broad daylight from BT Road, driven to a garage in Bhadreshwar, Hooghly, and left locked up inside although she had technically not defaulted on her loan. She had to be rescued by Bhadreshwar police hours later. While the incident happened on June 12 and the FIR lodged with Baranagar police the following day, police allegedly took no action for 38 days. The charges slapped against the accused were so weak that all of them surrendered and walked free on bail last Friday. The victim has now decided to approach the state women's commission.
Mala Mazumdar was on her way back home after collecting admission forms for her daughter from Jaipuria College when three men on motorcycles intercepted her car and forced it to stop near Palpara on BT Road, barely 200 metres from the Baranagar PS. The men asked Mala and her driver to get off the car since they had orders to take it away.
As per a Supreme Court directive, such "reposession" can be done only on a court-appointed receiver's order with prior intimation to the police and the owner of the vehicle.
Mala told the agents that she had talked to the bank to make a one-time settlement by June 25, but the agents refused to pay heed. She claimed they first tried to drag her out of the car. When she screamed, one of them pushed the driver aside, got into the car and began driving it at breakneck speed further north towards Dakshineshwar.
Mala first called her husband, a diabetes patient who stays at home, and told him that she was being kidnapped. When the car stopped at the Vivekananda bridge toll booth, she tried to draw the attention of the toll plaza staff. The guards there asked the driver to pull over the car but he sped away. On Durgapur Expressway, the agents first tried to force her out and when they could not, they drove the car into a garage, locked it and left. Realizing she was somewhere in Bhadreshwar, Mala called up a family friend who informed the police. An hour later she was rescued. Police told her to lodge a complaint in Baranagar.
In the FIR lodged with the Baranagar police, Mala claimed she had bought the car, a Maruti Alto, in 2007. She had initially taken a loan of Rs 2.8 lakh from a private bank for four years. After paying EMIs for two and a half years, she first defaulted. Following an offer from another private bank, she transferred the remaining loan of Rs 1.8 lakh and paid five instalments of Rs 6,501 per month. She then reached a one-time settlement of Rs 95,000 that was to be paid by June 25, 2012.
The FIR was lodged under section 323 IPC (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 IPC (criminal intimidation) and 534 IPC (assault or criminal force to a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty) — all bailable charges. Additional DCP (Barrackpore) Biswajit Ghosh said, "The charges of police not responding in time doesn't arise, because the complaint was lodged immediately."
In 2007, the Supreme Court had in a landmark judgment laid the rules for vehicle reposession during default. It had observed: "The recovery of loans or seizure of vehicles could be done only through legal means. The banks cannot employ goondas to take possession by force."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Loan-agents-whisk-away-woman-in-car/articleshow/15114247.cms
Mala Mazumdar was on her way back home after collecting admission forms for her daughter from Jaipuria College when three men on motorcycles intercepted her car and forced it to stop near Palpara on BT Road, barely 200 metres from the Baranagar PS. The men asked Mala and her driver to get off the car since they had orders to take it away.
As per a Supreme Court directive, such "reposession" can be done only on a court-appointed receiver's order with prior intimation to the police and the owner of the vehicle.
Mala told the agents that she had talked to the bank to make a one-time settlement by June 25, but the agents refused to pay heed. She claimed they first tried to drag her out of the car. When she screamed, one of them pushed the driver aside, got into the car and began driving it at breakneck speed further north towards Dakshineshwar.
Mala first called her husband, a diabetes patient who stays at home, and told him that she was being kidnapped. When the car stopped at the Vivekananda bridge toll booth, she tried to draw the attention of the toll plaza staff. The guards there asked the driver to pull over the car but he sped away. On Durgapur Expressway, the agents first tried to force her out and when they could not, they drove the car into a garage, locked it and left. Realizing she was somewhere in Bhadreshwar, Mala called up a family friend who informed the police. An hour later she was rescued. Police told her to lodge a complaint in Baranagar.
In the FIR lodged with the Baranagar police, Mala claimed she had bought the car, a Maruti Alto, in 2007. She had initially taken a loan of Rs 2.8 lakh from a private bank for four years. After paying EMIs for two and a half years, she first defaulted. Following an offer from another private bank, she transferred the remaining loan of Rs 1.8 lakh and paid five instalments of Rs 6,501 per month. She then reached a one-time settlement of Rs 95,000 that was to be paid by June 25, 2012.
The FIR was lodged under section 323 IPC (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 IPC (criminal intimidation) and 534 IPC (assault or criminal force to a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty) — all bailable charges. Additional DCP (Barrackpore) Biswajit Ghosh said, "The charges of police not responding in time doesn't arise, because the complaint was lodged immediately."
In 2007, the Supreme Court had in a landmark judgment laid the rules for vehicle reposession during default. It had observed: "The recovery of loans or seizure of vehicles could be done only through legal means. The banks cannot employ goondas to take possession by force."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Loan-agents-whisk-away-woman-in-car/articleshow/15114247.cms
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