VOC-yoked

Today was when VO Chidambaram Pillai was born. The British had a trade monopoly & prevented the ancient native trading population from trading. VOC challenged it by trading in his own ships. He was imprisoned, his ships & goods impounded. VOC was yoked (in place of bulls) to an oil press (crushing seeds for oil) under the hot sun and forced to generate more oil than the bulls, the same unique British torture also inflicted on Savarkar in Andaman. Why was this torture inflicted on a non-violent VOC? Maybe allowing Indians to trade was what the British truly feared.