In a setback to Nitish Kumar Government the Patna High Court today put a stay on the caste-based census in Bihar. 

The decision came amid the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government’s proposal to conduct a caste census in the state. The opposition BJP in the state had stood against the census.

An inquiry revealed that during the caste census around 40 women in a red-light area in Bihar's Arwal district had declared a man named Roopchand as their husband.

When census officials asked the women’s children, they also wrote the name Roopchand as their father's name. 

According to reports, people who live in the red-light area of Ward No. 7, sing and dance to make a living and have no fixed address. Therefore, these women have named their husbands as Roopchand. This incident has become a topic of discussion in the surrounding areas.

The Nitish Kumar government had started its much-hyped caste-based census in Bihar on January 7. The project cost Rs 500 crore. The caste-based census was scheduled to be conducted in two stages.

Data was collected digitally through a mobile application as part of the eight-level survey, from the panchayat to the district level. The app had questions about the place, caste, the number of people in a family, their profession, and annual income. Census workers included teachers, Anganwadi, MGNREGA or Jeevika workers.