18 April 2019
A family in Chilahati, Nilphamari have been under siege by the creditors. Following constant intimidation, taunting and harassment for two years, in early this year, two sons of a widow, Mst. Meherun Nesa, were beaten up in the dark as they were returning home by miscreants who threatened them to kill them if the money was not repaid in full with interest soon. There was no doubt left in anyone’s mind which “money” these thugs were referring to. Now, one of the brothers of that evening was targeted once more and was viciously attacked my machete-wielding barbarians. But the family refused to lodge a complaint at the local police station clearly because of their reservations as to further recriminations. The police station pleaded ignorance to this incident which was clearly convenient. The brothers requested their names not to be published. However, a source close to the family informed this reporter on condition of anonymity that the family had to incur some debts to finance Meherun Nesa’s other son, Md Masum Sajjad’s education in the UK. But Masum was expected to pay it back and when he was unable to and the family fell on hard times and failed to keep the repayments, the interest skyrocketed and the deluge of harassment came crashing down. The family deeply fear for Masum as well as their own safety.
In the last few months alone there have been at least 200 reported incidents of threats, use of violent and aggressive intimidation and other forms of bullying regarding unpaid debts by creditors. Our investigation into this social and economic endemic has revealed that most of the threats come from political muscles and rarely, if ever, correct legal procedures are followed in this respect. Even when commercial institutions are the creditors, it is clear the normal route to recovering the debts is through political might and undue use of administrative and law enforcement powers. In the cases where the creditors are individuals, the ramifications are more serious, more unpredictable and often more brutal. Repercussions can range from social and personal humiliation to death. The government has voiced strong opposition to this form of economic problems but real progress has been few and far between. Debt-management scheme at governmental stage has not yet been fully functional and whatever measures are there, there is not enough awareness amongst the public in respect of such matters family.
Some of the creditors upon being contacted outright denied all such allegations and advised such allegations to be properly investigated. The family, desperate to get out of this diabolical fiasco, felt compelled to publicly distance themselves from Mr. Sajjad so that the retributive actions were no longer levelled at them. But problems continued and to date persist. Mr. Sajjad himself was unreachable.
If there were proper debt-management system in Bangladesh the way it is available in a country like the UK, he says, things would have been different. Instead, if one has debts in Bangladesh, he is doomed to go through each day feeling extremely helpless and insecure regarding safety given the medieval means employed by the creditors to collect the unpaid debts.
There have been at least 200 murders in the past 36 months basis of which was disputes related to unpaid debts. Criminal investigations are ongoing but hope for justice is limited. The political might of the creditors ensures that no proper investigation ever takes place or justice done in these cases. Justice department has released a press briefing after outcry in the national press over these atrocities. Whilst government sources are confident this situation will improve soon, there is little to suggest otherwise in the way of constructive development of processes and systems to tackle this social ill. Clearly this endemic has to be treated with care and at speed. Otherwise, the numbers of these killings shall spill over and remain a stain on the current and old regimes. Experts state that establishing a coherent system of debt-management is not easy but can be achieved by the government if the political will is there. Such systems are widely practised in most developed countries and for this form of redress to be made readily available to vulnerable debtors, the principles of rule of law and access to justice must be fundamentally strengthened.
