Farmer beaten up, tractor taken away over loan dues

In stark contrast to the treatment given by financial institutions to the rich, a farmer in Tamil Nadu’s Tanjavur district was beaten up and his tractor snatched away by loan recovery agents of a private finance company. His crime: he had fallen back on two instalments.

The farmer, B Balan, told HT that he had taken a loan of ` 3.80 lakh in 2011 and had repaid ` 4.11 lakh. But two more instalments were pending — he now owes an amount of ` 1.30 lakh.

“They did not even give a warning or make a call. They just came and started bashing me up to snatch the tractor,” Balan said.

On Friday noon, around 20 persons, including 10 policemen, came to the village and started attacking Balan. When the farmer said he had been given no notice, he was only beaten more. A video of the attack, aired on a private television channel, showed the policemen.

But a senior police official of Tanjavur, DSP S Kannan, denied that cops beat up Balan. He said that the farmer had defaulted on his loan and action was taken following a court order.

Balan said he could not pay the previous instalment due in 2015 after crop losses. “I would have made some arrangement and paid, but they were not willing to listen,” he said.

The farmers’ association of Tanjavur said it would hold a protest on Thursday to highlight the injustice. They questioned how a farmer was harassed when others, like liquor baron Vijay Mallya who owed thousands of crores to banks, were treated with deference.