Lawyers’ stir leads to overcrowding in prison

SAMBALPUR: Sambalpur Circle Jail here has become overcrowded as its inmates are unable to get bail owing to the ongoing agitation by the lawyers of District Bar Association (DBA), Sambalpur over the demand of establishment of a permanent bench of the High Court in Western Odisha.

The lawyers of DBA have paralysed functioning of judicial courts and revenue courts in Sambalpur over the demand since September 5 and had recently announced that the agitation will continue till completion of monsoon session of the Assembly on September 20.

Sambalpur Circle Jail Superintendent  Amiya Patnaik said 814 inmates are lodged in the Circle Jail against the capacity of 541. Around 100 offenders were brought to the jail between September 5 and September 15 and majority of them are involved in petty criminal cases. However, they have failed to move the court for bail due to the ongoing lawyers’ stir, he said.

The number of inmates in the jail is likely to increase in the coming days, Patnaik said. Established in 1892, Sambalpur Circle Jail, spread over 27 acres, has 22 wards and eight cells. Chairman of Action Committee of DBA, Sambalpur, Pradip Bohidar said the DBA has decided to continue the agitation till September 20.

The Central Action Committee (CAC) of All-Western Odisha Bar Association recently extended support to the DBA’s agitation and the CAC has decided to paralyse judicial courts over the demand of establishment of High Court bench in Western Odisha from September 17 to September 26 across the region. Since DBA is a part of All-Western Odisha Bar Association, it will also continue the agitation till September 26, he said.

Moreover, the denizens of Sambalpur will paralyse functioning of judicial courts from September 27 to September 29.