The government has decided to amend the National Criminal Procedure (Code) to criminalise loan sharking.

Minister for Communication and Information Technology Rekha Sharma informed that a Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday decided to proceed with the amendment process in the National Criminal Procedure (Code) Act, 2017 to include loan sharking as a criminal offence and bring the loan sharks under the legal ambit.

Although there is a law that bars charging interest at a rate of more than 10 percent in household transactions, the law has not defined loan sharking as a crime.

Currently, loan sharking is essentially categorised as an offence under the civil code though acts such as blackmailing, extortion and other exploitations fall under criminal offences. In this condition, the victims have to fight the deep-pocketed loan sharks alone.

If the code is amended as per the decision of the Council of Ministers on Tuesday, it will open the way for the government to register a case and conduct legal fights against loan sharks.

On Tuesday, the government formed a four-member team headed by the joint secretary at the Home Ministry Rudra Devi Sharma to hold talks with the loan shark victims.

Home Ministry Under Secretary Dil Kumar Tamang, Under Secretary at the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Minister Uma Kanta Adhikari and Under Secretary at the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Jung Bahadur Dangi are members of the talks team.

Loan shark victims, who are from various districts of the Tarai, had arrived in the Capital on Sunday after travelling for 11 days on foot. The protestors returned to Kathmandu six months after signing a five-point agreement with the government in September last year after which they had ended their protest.

The victims also asked the government to provide them loans at lower interest rates, bring laws against unscrupulous lending and scrapping of personal mortgaging contracts known as Tamasuk.