Livelihoods threatened by Covid, lawyers turned to bar councils for help

Large numbers turned to bar councils for ration, financial help in desperation

In May, when the deadly second wave of Covid-19 was raging across India, the Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) provided 4,000 grocery kits to lawyers who had not earned a single rupee for months and whose families were fighting hunger every day. The council spent Rs 4.26 lakh in additional cash relief for nearly 2,700 lawyers who were either in home quarantine due to the infection or in hospital. Covid-19 has shut court rooms for months on end and even when hearings have re­su­med virtually, the number of cases being taken up has fallen drastically, leaving lawyers with unprecedented financial