Maoists vow to fight against usury, blame govt

Five Maoists raised slogans against the government at the premises of a local court today for alleged failure to control usury in the stae and vowed to fight against the practice.
The Maoists--Roopesh, Shyna, Anup, Veeramani and Kannan, were today brought to the court for extension of their custody.
While they neared the court complex, they raised slogans against usury and blamed the government for 'failure' to take action against it, police said.
On October 23, a couple had set themselves and their daughters, aged two and five, on fire at the collectorate complex in Tirunelveli over alleged harassment by a moneylender.

The woman and the children died in hospital that day itself, while the man died today.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswamy today directed authorities to act swiftly on usury complaints.
He said an existing legislation prevented moneylenders from charging exorbitant interest rates and asked affected people to approach officials for redressal.
The National Human Rights Commission also issued a notice to the state taking cognisance of a complaint that the couple had taken the extreme step after their repeated petitions to the Collector seeking relief from unwarranted harassment by a moneylender fell on deaf ears.