Prohibited ‘Kandhu Vatti’ Drives Family to Self-immolation in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu

In an incident of self-immolation by a daily wage labourer’s family in front of the Tirunelveli Collectorate on Monday, three out of four family members have died.

Harassed over kandhu vatti (unorganised call money market charging high-interest rates), Esakkimuthu, a daily wage labourer, along with his wife and two minor daughters set themselves ablaze. They were immediately rushed to the Tirunelveli Medical College and Hospital (TVMCH).

While Esakkimuthu is in critical condition, his wife Subbulakshmi and their two daughters, Mathi Saranya(4 years old) and Akshaya Bharanitha(one and a half-year-old) died in the hospital.

Reportedly, the family was being tortured by Muthulakshmi, allegedly practising kandhu vatti, demanding them to pay high interest for an amount of Rs. 1.45 lakh borrowed from her, a few months ago. Though Esakkimuthu had reportedly repaid Rs.2.34 lakh including the principal and the interest, Muthulakshmi was allegedly harassing the family for a further Rs.2 lakh more.

Even after submitting repeated petitions to the Collector at six weekly grievance redressal meetings and seeking police intervention, finding no hope of relief, the family resorted to the extreme step of self-immolation, revealing the draconian practices that are still prevalent in the state.

Although the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Charging Exorbitant Interest Act, 2003 has prohibited the evil practices of daily vatti, hourly vatti, kandhu vatti and meter vatti in the state, this particular incident revealed their unchecked prevalence within the state.

According to Gopi, Esakkimuthu’s brother, the police instead of responding to the petitions of his brother, had allegedly joined hands with Muthulakshmi and further complicated the issue by coercing him to pay the amount demanded by her. Gopi also alleged that a retired sub-inspector had influenced the local police of Achanputhur police station not to take any complaints against Muthulakshmi.

It has been reported that the Tirunelveli Collector Sandeep Nanduri visited the TVMCH hospital to inquire about the condition of the victim family. Nanduri told the media that this is a serious issue and a special police squad will look into the complaints pertaining to exorbitant cases.