A group of Banaras Hindu University students, activists and a journalist began a hunger strike in Ghazipur’s district jail on Thursday. The strike is in protest against the Uttar Pradesh administration.

The group of 10 people, including a woman journalist, was sent to a 14-day police custody for taking out a satyagrah yatra. The foot march which started in Chauri Chaura near Gorakhpur, was supposed to end in Delhi’s Rajghat. But on the ninth day of the march on February 11, about 250 km from Chauri Chaura, the group was arrested.

In the Sub Divisional Magistrate’s (SDM) order, the arrested were accused of taking out a march without permission and “spreading misinformation related to CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) and NRC (National Register of Citizens) to misguide and provoke people”. The order said their message could lead to “disruption of peace” and “spread unpleasantness”.

Divakar Singh, a BHU IIT research scholar who was also part of the yatra initially, rejected police’s allegation.

“Our march was about peace and harmony. It was against the creation of Hindu-Muslim divide. The message was that only love and non-violence can lead to normalization,” said Singh.

In their call for the march, the group talks about attempts to divert attention from the core issues of unemployment, education, health and basic rights.

“The society has turned communal. We are getting divided into Hindu-Muslim, Dalit-Savarna, Forward-Backward, India-Pakistan,” read their call under the name of Nagrik Satyagrah.

Their call, however, also condemned the Uttar Pradesh police brutality on protesters who came out against CAA and NRC in December.

“To associate it with NRC and CAA is to divert from the march’s true objective,” said Singh. He also said that it can be preemptive measures by the administration before Narendra Modi’s visit to Varanasi on February 16.

The arrested journalist’s sister told The Telegraph that the bail conditions placed by the SDM for the group is to discourage any bail attempts and make it difficult to get them released.

In a bizarre order, two bail bonds of Rs.2.5 lakh was demanded from each person along with two guarantors who are gazetted officers. Singh said that no officer is ready to go against their own government officer and become a guarantor.