Bhopal: Nine women who were arrested on Wednesday over sloganeering at a public meeting held by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan alleged that they were made to undergo a pregnancy test in jail.
The police had booked them under section 151, which deals with causing disruption in public peace. The women were arrested when CM Chouhan was addressing the 'Laadli Shiksha Parva' at Lal Parade Maidan on Wednesday.
All the women had cleared the police constable written test and medical test, but failed to get eligibility for the recruitment as they could not meet the minimum height criterion by one or two centimeters.
They were part of a group of women who were protesting at Yaadgar-e-Shahjehani park for the past three days, demanding that Chouhan fulfill the promise he made last year to relax the minimum height criteria of 158 cm for women police constables.
When no one took notice of them, the nine sneaked into the venue and started raising slogans in support of their demands, only to be whisked away by the cops.
Soon after they were released from the Central Jail on bail, the women alleged that they had to undergo pregnancy tests. Further, few male prisoners allegedly kept peeping inside the changing room of the jail, they said.
“The parents of the women are so upset by their arrest that they don’t even want them to return home. Their parents asked me to either leave them in jail or keep them with me. The women are heartbroken on being treated at par with criminals, especially by those who they wanted to work with in future,” social activist Preeti Sharma, one of the supporters of the protest, told News18.
Sharma said that they will meet MP Congress president Kamal Nath and lodge complaints with the State Women’s Commission along with the Human Rights Commission.
The social activist also alleged persistent harassment by women cops. "The cops forced me to give them my mobile phone's password, after which they scanned and deleted its data,” alleged Sharma, who had accompanied the women to Mahila police station.
When questioned about the allegations, jail officers kept mum. A senior jail department officer, on condition of anonymity, said every woman is made to take a pregnancy test before sending them to jail.
Congress workers protested at the central jail, alleging that MP’s daughters have been insulted under Chouhan’s rule and he should apologise for it.
Youth Congress state president Kunal Chaudhary said the government was functioning on the lines of the erstwhile tyrant British government.
"The unemployed are thrown in jail for demanding jobs and farmers are shot dead for claiming their dues. We are committed to uproot this atrocious government this year,” he said.
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