Bhopal, Dec. 9: Behind bars in Madhya Pradesh, women have even lost the freedom to protect their dignity.

Women inmates in the state’s jails ? numbering 2,164 ? are denied innerwear because the authorities believe they can be used to commit suicide. They are also not allowed to lock the toilet door as they could use the opportunity to end their lives.

Director-general of police (prisons) J.K. Sinha woke up to the fact after Rajo Malviya, a member of the state women’s commission, approached him. “Whenever required, women should be provided with sanitary napkins or whatever necessary,” he has ordered.

But the commission is not convinced. “When I visited a jail in Jabalpur recently, I was shocked to see that women inmates were not even permitted to bolt the toilet door. We were told that it could lead to suicide attempts,” said Malviya, who headed the BJP-VHP-backed Durga Vahini before turning social worker.

She added that the state’s jail manual did not provide for supplying innerwear to women inmates. “Verbally, it was said that these garments could be used for hanging.”

Jails in Madhya Pradesh offer women two pairs of cotton saris.

Malviya said some prisoners had told her that they would sometimes ask their relatives to bring them undergarments. For the less privileged ones, the only hope was the occasional dole from non-government organisations.

“But in this time and age, the state must provide full clothing for inmates, including undergarments, instead of forcing women to look for charity,” she said. “According to me, it is a violation of human rights and dignity, too.”

After Malviya fired letters to Sinha and the principal secretary, jail, a circular was issued yesterday and is being sent to prisons across the state.

Deputy inspector-general (prisons) A.K. Rawat said “all necessary steps” are being taken to correct the wrong.

He admitted that the “old manual” ? it dates back to the Raj era ? needs an update. “Perhaps, when it was framed, women inmates were a rarity,” he offered as an explanation.

Changes have been made to the manual in the past to give convicts and undertrials a better deal. For instance, it introduced 26 industries ranging from knitting to doll-making to cow husbandry to keep the inmates engaged in meaningful activities. But the issue of providing women innerwear was ignored every time.

Madhya Pradesh has had several women dacoits, who have spent considerable time in the state’s jails. But, surprisingly, the Seema Parihars and the Munni Devis ? who once struck terror across the forests of Chambal ? never raised their voice against the innerwear injustice.