Modern Shylocks

HYDERABAD: Unable to bear humiliation meted out by recovery agents, a 27-year-old private security guard, Mahendra Prasad, committed suicide at his house in Neredmet on Sunday.

According to Neredmet police, Mahender had recently taken Rs 40,000 loan from ICICI Bank. Due to financial problems, Mahender was not paying monthly instalments since some time and recovery agents of the bank began frequenting his house.

At about 2 pm, two recovery agents went to Mahender's house and 'inquired' when he would be repaying the loan amount.
"Mahender, who was having lunch at that time, felt humiliated. After the agents left, Mahender pushed his wife and children out of the house, locked the door from inside and hung himself," Neredmet inspector K Venkat Reddy said.

The body was found by neighbours who broke open the door after some time.
Based on a complaint lodged by Mahender's wife Lavanya, a case under Section 306 (abetment to commit suicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was filed against the ICICI Bank agents.

Those who have read Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice" must remember how Shylock relished the moment when he would be able to remove a pound of flesh in lieu of the loan he had given to Antonio and how Portia, Antonio's friends wife saved him.

In spite of the courts of the land instructing banks not to harass customers if they default, the evil continues.
THE ICICI BANK is the worst of the lot.
They first entice persons to take loan without going into their repaying capability and then make his life hell by hounding them day and night.

This is something like the sub-prime crisis in the USA.
Loans were given to undeserving people and see the result.
The whole financial world collapsed.

In the above case, the ICICI bank agents who harassed Mahendra Prasad should be tried for culpable murder.