Top Maoist leaders and social activists lodged at the Beur Central Jail in Bihar’s Patna will embark on an indefinite hunger strike from Tuesday (October 1) to protest the violation of the basic human rights and dignity of the inmates.

They have formed a “prisoners’ agitation committee” to carry forth their struggle to demand proper facilities and alleged severe exploitation, repression and corruption by the jail authorities.

In a statement sent out with the help of their family members and friends who visit them, the Maoist leaders pointed out that they were a mix of undertrials and convicts and were “agitating against the prison management for more than a month”.

“We sent a memorandum to the Bihar governor, chief minister, Patna high court chief justice, state chief secretary, home secretary and other officials and went on a hunger strike on August 30. The prison officials promised to make amends and requested us to end it. However, they did not keep their word and started transferring the main leaders who had spearheaded the hunger strike,” the statement said.

Those transferred include CPI (Maoist) central committee member Vijay Kumar Arya, CPI (Maoist) politburo member Pramod Mishra, and former party unity leader Rakesh Kumar. They have been sent to central jails in Buxar, Bhagalpur and Muzaffarpur, respectively.

Sources said that about sixty senior Maoist leaders and commanders were lodged in two special wards of the Beur Central Jail, of which more than half have been transferred to prisons across the state.

The Telegraph accessed a copy of the letter signed by 40 Maoist leaders and sent to the Bihar governor, chief minister, Patna high court chief justice, Bihar Human Rights Commission, and senior government officials.

It alleges a flourishing ecosystem of exploitation in the Beur Central Jail and contains grave allegations on its superintendent and other officials, ranging from extortion of ₹3,000 to 5000 per month from the prisoners and their families to provide them better food and facilities. It has also called for an independent probe into the charges.

“The jail manual talks about 250gm rice and flour daily to an inmate, but only 150gm is provided by the jail administration due to which common prisoners are constant victims of hunger and malnutrition. Morning and evening breakfast, and special food items like milk on Monday, paneer on Wednesday, eggs on Saturday, and poori on Sunday have been stopped,” the letter said.

According to the missive, the jail canteen charges up to twice the MRP (maximum retail price) for various things sold to the prisoners. Necessary medicines and a nutritious diet are not being provided to patients in the jail hospital, and money is fleeced from the inmates to send them to hospitals outside the jail for treatment.

The letter demanded that all these issues be resolved, bring back the Maoists transferred to other jails, allow two STD phone calls every week, regular cleaning of toilets, mosquito nets and electric kettles be allowed and four water hand pumps be installed in every sector of the jail.

Asked about the allegations, Beur Central Jail superintendent Vidhu Kumar told The Telegraph: “These are baseless. There are no problems inside the jail. We are not allowing the Maoists lodged here to indulge in netagiri (politics) and to hijack the functioning of the jail. I do not need to tell what kind of people they are and why they have been kept here.”