The notification is created under Section 144 of the CrPC and violation of this order is punishable under Section 188 of the IPC, which is a non-bailable offence.

Sinha said they have already registered the first case against an officer of ICICI bank for violation of order and taken adequate steps. But next time if any bank or moneylender is found encouraging recovery agents to violate the law again, they will be charged for robbery or extortion. "There is a Securitisation Act under which the bank can seize the property of the defaulter to pay installments, but it should be done within the precincts of the law," Sinha said.

In the past few months, several cases of suicide due to harassment (mental and physical torture) by the recovery agents, has come to light in Rajkot.

Sinha said they have found that on an average, 4-5 cases of suicide have come to light in Rajkot. "Around 15-20 cases are registered with us under the Moneylender Act, which include harassment and threatening by recovery agents. As such, there should be some legal format to give a little protection to the borrower, as well as to control the prevailing crimes in the city," he said.

He added that both the Reserve Bank of India and the Supreme Court have issued notifications against the use of muscle power in loan recovery cases.

He said they have issued copies of the notification to all the banks and institutions in the city. As such, no banks or financial institutions will be able to deny that they were not informed of these regulations, he said.

He said the notification was made provisional for two months and from this month onwards, it will be implemented on a permanent basis.

So far, only a few banks have come forward for registration under this notification. But the police are hopeful that after the first complaint filed against the ICICI bank, other banks will understand the seriousness of the issue.

Cardinal points
1) Banks, private moneylenders, financial institutions have to register the name, permanent address and other details of the recovery agent, including their identity proof with the police station.
2) Before appointing the agents on contract or through outsourcing, all the banks and moneylenders have to take a police verification report.
3) Agents should not visit any residence between 10 pm to 6 am.
4) If any bank or their officers encourage their agents to violate this notification, then the bank will be solely held responsible for violation of the law.

They succumbed to pressure...
In the last one year many cases of suicides raised eyebrows in Rajkot. One particular incident was the mass suicide of five members of the Patadia family, who committed suicide in August 2007 to escape harassment by the moneylender's recovery agents. The deceased included Jayesh Raghunath Patadia, his wife, their elder son Bhavin (30), daughter-in-law Nisha (28), and younger son Ramnik (25). Singer Dilip Jain from Syamnagar in the city committed suicide after private moneylenders harassed his wife Nita and tortured him for failure to repay. He committed suicide in February 2008. More then 20 complaints of harassment and issue of threats by recovery agents have been filed with the Rajkot police in the current year under Moneylenders Act.