Section 16 in Andhra Pradesh Micro Finance Institutions (Regulation of Money Lending) Act, 2011
16. Penalty for coercive actions MFIs.
(1)All persons who are connected with and responsible for the day-to-day control, business and management of a MFI including the Partners, Directors and the employees who resort to any type of coercive measures against the SHGs or its members or their family members shall be liable for punishment of imprisonment which may extend up to a period of three years or with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees or with both.Explanation. - For the purposes of this section, "coercive action" by an MFI against the SHGs or its members of their family members include the following,-(a)obstructing or using violence to, insulting or intimidating the borrower or his family members, or(b)persistently following the borrower or his family member from place to place or interfering with any property owned or used by him or depriving him of, or hindering him in the use of any such property, or(c)frequenting the house or other place where such other person resides or works, or carries on business, or happens to be, or(d)doing any act calculated to annoy or intimidate such person or the members of his family, or(e)moving or acting in a manner which causes or is calculated to cause alarm or danger to the person or property of such other person, or(f)seeking to remove forcibly any document from the borrower which entitles the borrower to a benefit under any Government programme:Provided that a person who frequents the house or place referred to in clause (c) in order merely to obtain or communicate information shall not be deemed to be using coercive action.(2)The MFI or the persons who use coercive actions as stated in sub section (1) shall be prosecuted in accordance with the provisions of this Act.(3)The provisions of the code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, shall, so far as may be, apply to the proceedings before a Fast Track Court, and for the purpose of the said provisions, a Fast Track Court shall be deemed to be a Magistrate.
