Jan Suraaj party founder Prashant Kishor was released from Patna’s Beur Jail on Monday evening after a city court granted him bail.

Kishor has been on an indefinite hunger strike since January 2 to press for the cancellation of the recently-held Bihar Public Service Commission preliminary examination. He has been accused of violating orders prohibiting public gatherings and sitting on a hunger strike without the permission of authorities.

Kishor was arrested in the early hours of Monday. Hours later, a Patna court granted him bail, and directed him to submit a bond of Rs 25,000, ANI reported.

However, his lawyer Shivanand Giri said that the court also imposed a condition that Kishor should state in writing that he would not commit such an offence again. As the Jan Suraaj party founder did not accept these conditions, the court remanded him to judicial custody, the lawyer said.

“Writing this would mean that he has committed an offence but protesting is our fundamental right... We said that this order is not acceptable to us,” Giri said, according to ANI.

Kishor, after being released, said that the court later granted him unconditional bail.

“The court granted unconditional bail on our request,” he said, according to PTI. “The voice and trust of the people are stronger than any power, and the impact of the 'satyagraha' is evident.”

Early on Monday, the Jan Suraaj party alleged that the police attempted to break Kishor’s fast by taking him from Patna’s Gandhi Maidan to the All India Institute Of Medical Sciences. It also alleged that the police “brutally lathi-charged” those who had come to see him at the medical institute.

Civil services aspirants in Bihar who appeared for the 70th Combined (Preliminary) Competitive Examination on December 13 have been protesting in Patna since December 18, alleging a question paper leak at one of the centres.

They have also alleged that CCTV cameras and jammers were not functioning at several examination centres and that question papers were distributed late at some.

Bihar Public Service Commission Chairman Parmar Ravi Manubhai has denied any question paper leaks and stated that the preliminary examination was conducted peacefully at 911 out of 912 centres. So far, the commission has agreed to reschedule the exam only for candidates who appeared at a centre in Patna, where an exam official died of a heart attack.