Call it the Monica Bedi effect. The starlet spent months in Bhopal’s Central Jail, bonding with female prisoners, teaching them how to dance, and, occasionally, to dream about a life on celluloid. It seems the scent of glamour she left behind is stil wafting in the air of the jail premises here.

As many as 10 female prisoners lodged in the prison have sought permission to take part in a reality show, Rahul Dulhaniya Le Jayega, where Rahul Mahajan will choose his ideal bride. But telling them there is a difference between reality shows and life in jail, DGP (Jails) Sanjay Mane has rejected their applications.

Since a court released her, a former companion of underworld don Abu Salem, for want of evidence, Monica Bedi has taken part in reality shows, including an edition of Bigg Boss where Mahajan appeared to flirt with her. Apparently, this inspired the jail inmates. Aged between 20 and 40, the applicants include undertrials and convicts, among them unmarried women and even a widow with four children.

The arguments they gave make for interesting reading. “If I am jailed for a liquor-related offence then he also spent time in jail for a similar offence,” a prisoner said.

Yet another felt Mahajan’s first marriage broke down because his wife could not reconcile to his life behind bars.

Jail Superintendent P C Somkuvar said he saw nothing wrong in their applications, more so because they had spent time with Bedi. But the applicants went beyond Bedi to connect to Mahajan who, they said, had also spent time in jail and could hence understand them better. For the same reason, they argued, Mahajan and Bedi struck up a brief alliance. Somkuvar said the prisoners heard about the upcoming show by reading newspapers and by interacting with outsiders when they were taken out for trial.