Lawyer's Strike Enters Day 9

On Monday, all 122 bar associations of the state decided to continue their agitation till the state government withdrew the hike. Though the strike began almost a month before the lawyers at Patna High Court give support it on 31 march after the state government refused to roll back the fee hike. According to sources, there are about 40,000 prisoners lodged in 54 jails across the state. There are the capacity to intake just about 29,000 inmates. The number has been going up every day since march 14 when lawyers started their agitation at district level courts. For instance, Beur jail in Patna has received over 200 prisoners since the strike began. It had 2,649 inmates on March 10, and the number has gone up to 2,863 now. The sub-jail in Patna had 141 inmates March 10. Now the number has risen to 191. M.P. Gupta, a senior lawyer, admitted prisoners' release or bail was delayed due to the strike. "Judicial services have been totally paralysed by the strike and is affecting the common people," said Gupta.