Loan-sharking victims staged a protest outside the Dhanusha District Court on Wednesday as lawyers argued a case against alleged predatory lenders, with a woman pouring petrol-like liquid over herself before police intervened.

The woman, identified as 55-year-old Phulkumari Rajak of Janakpurdham Sub-Metropolitan City-3, poured the substance from a mug over her body during the demonstration, according to Madhusudan Neupane, deputy superintendent of police and information officer at the District Police Office, Dhanusha.

Police officers deployed to prevent protesters from entering the court immediately took control of Rajak, Neupane said. Security was subsequently tightened around the court premises.

A video appearing to show Rajak pouring the liquid over herself has also circulated on social media.

Neupane said Wednesday’s hearing involved the detention proceedings for alleged loan sharks Hareram Sah and Gopal Sah. It was not immediately clear whether Rajak had been directly involved in that case.

Nirg Navin, an activist involved in the campaign against loan sharking, said campaigners had learned of the incident and contacted the victim.

“We are looking into the incident in detail,” he said.

The protest comes less than a month after the government and representatives of loan-sharking victims signed a nine-point agreement aimed at addressing widespread complaints of fraudulent lending and coercive debt collection.

The agreement, signed on July 17 after negotiations between the government and protesters, commits the government to declaring loan sharking an economic crime, drafting a special law within three months and establishing dedicated tribunals to expedite such cases.

The proposed legislation is to invalidate fraudulent promissory notes, conditional land mortgages and cheques obtained through coercion. It would also criminalise practices including inflating loan amounts, capitalising interest, charging excessive interest, forcing borrowers to sign blank cheques or documents, threatening borrowers and unlawfully seizing ancestral property.

The agreement followed a “Justice March on Foot” that began in Dhanusha on July 9 and headed towards Kathmandu. Home Minister Sudan Gurung travelled from Kathmandu to Nijgadh, Bara, to meet the protesters after they reached the town. Following several rounds of talks, representatives travelled to Kathmandu for further negotiations at Singha Durbar.

The government has also pledged mechanisms to return property to victims, review past cases and provide compensation, while district-level committees are expected to help resolve complaints.

Despite the agreement, Wednesday’s demonstration indicates that anger among victims remains, particularly over cases already before the courts and concerns about the implementation of the government’s commitments.