Patna, March 12 (IANS) Bihar's jailbirds cannot have sex with their spouses once a month, the government said Friday.

Ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) legislator Bhim Singh raised the issue in the ongoing budget session of the state assembly and demanded that jail inmates be allowed to have sex.

But the state government rejected Singh's demand on the ground that there was no such provision in the rule books.

'I raised the most genuine human rights issue related to jail inmates in the state assembly but the state government response was negative. I asked if there was any proposal pertaining to granting permission to jail inmates to have sex with their partners once in a month, pending with it,' Singh said.

According to officials, more than 44,000 prisoners are lodged in 54 jails that can accommodate only 24,500 people.