Also, the termination was illegal as my NRHM contract states I can be terminated only if I am absent for 15 days," he said.

He then approached higher authorities in the department of health with the help of civil liberty activists in Jaipur. "We had to exert some pressure on the state government and some health department officials to get Dr Jamaly his job back. This along with the threat of legal action managed to get things moving," said Kavita Srivastava from Peoples Union fro Civil Liberties (PUCL), Rajasthan.

On September 24, the police wrote to the health department about Jamaly's absence from August 10 to August 23. The letter said: "Dr Jamaly was with the police in the said period and was assisting a police investigation and that the police are verifying documents." The letter to Principal Secretary, Department of Health, R K Meena helped cut red-tape and got Jamaly his job back.

But that was only just one of Jamaly's problems. "When I returned home from police detention on August 23, I received a letter of termination and that evening my landlord and friend Prem Singh asked me to vacate the house," he said.

"My wife was five months pregnant and my son is just four-years-old. I went to the police for help and they said nothing would happen to me. But at 2 a.m., Singh again told me he was getting calls threatening him so I packed up and left for my in-laws' house in Beawar," he said. After two months, Jamaly decided to take his pregnant wife and son back to their native Bihar.

... contd.