In yet another case of agression against bank employees, two bank executives—Manager and Assistant Manager—of State Bank of India branch in Bilaspur, Chhatisgarh was allegedly assaulted by customers following a dispute.
This was following a dispute between a borrower over the documents of a pledged property. As per reports, one of the youths had taken a loan against his land for a tractor but had defaulted on installments, prompting the bank to issue a notice. Seeking to resolve the issue by selling the mortgaged land, the youths demanded related documents from the bank.
However, tensions escalated when the manager clarified that selling the land to settle the loan was not permissible under bank regulations, the reports said.
Subsequently, this disagreement quickly spiraled into a physical altercation where the youths allegedly assaulted manager Ankit Bhushan Lal and assistant manager Prem Kumar Jaiswal, repeatedly slapping them. Following the assault, both the manager and assistant manager filed a complaint at Takhatpur police station and cops arrested the youths after questioning, the Hellobanker.in reported.
This is not an isolated incident.
In March, staff members of IDBI were allegedly assaulted by a group of villagers when they reached their newly opened branch in Sector 83 on Tuesday morning.
According to police, around 50 men arrived in 10 vehicles and were waiting outside the bank at 9.30am when the staff reached the spot. “We reached there as usual and were unlocking the gates of the branch.We noticed these people were already there, waiting for us. They did not even let us open the gates.”
In November, 2023, another bank employee, who had gone to a village to recover a loan, was attacked and taken hostage by the loan defaulter and his supporters in Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda, police said on Tuesday.
Police reached the spot and freed the bank staff and five people have been detained in this connection. A case has been lodged under relevant sections at the local Colonelganj police station, police said.
The Bank Officers Association has warned of agitation if strict and effective action is not taken against the culprits.
Giving details of the incident, Senior Manager of the Prathama UP Gramin Bank, who is also the district president of the officers association, Sudhir Kumar Shukla told PTI that a team of officials of the Balpur branch of the bank had on Monday gone to Sonhara village to recover the NPA from Ghanshyam, the loanee of Kisan Credit Card (KCC).
When asked to deposit the dues, Ghanshyam started abusing the bank officials and started an argument, Shukla said, adding that his family members and some supporters attacked the officials with sticks, bricks and stones, as a result of which, some bank officials were injured.
The attackers took all the officers present at the spot hostage, he said.
Superintendent of Police Ankit Mittal said five accused have been detained and are being interrogated. The medical examination of the injured is also being done, the SP said.
Speaking to Biznewsweek, C H Venkatachalam, convernor of United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) said in the light of an increase in such cases, security arrangements for bank staffs must be enhanced on an urgent basis.
“Bankers are already under pressure to do their daily duties. There have been a rise in such cases across the country. We demand apt security arrangements in all branches including armed security staff to guard employees from such attacks. We cannot compromise on the saftey of bank employees,” said Venkatachalam.