The Rajasthan police have come to the aid of Dr Amanullah Jamaly in the unlikeliest of ways, even after detaining him twice for questioning in the ongoing May 13 Jaipur blasts probe. Jamaly was sacked from his job for being absent without leave and ousted from his house in Pali. After the Rajasthan police vouched for his credentials stating he was “assisting” them in the investigation, Jamaly, a Unani doctor, was reinstated as a medical officer under the National Rural Health Mission (NHRM) in a community health centre in Bhagdi in Pali district. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the blasts detained Jamaly first from June 19 to June 22 and then from August 10 to August 24. Sources in the police said that Dr Jamaly was suspected of writing the terror email that was sent minutes after the May 13 serial blasts in Jaipur. Jamaly, a graduate in Unani medicine from Aligarh Muslim University, was released on August 24 and was given a clean chit. However, his homecoming was ruined by a letter from the Pali chief Medical Health Officer (CMHO), Dr Ramesh Mathur, which terminated his contract. The next day, his landlord asked him to vacate his house under pressure from his neighbours and right-wing organisations, who still believed he was a “terrorist.” The letter from the CHMO stated, “Dr Jamaly’s contract has been terminated following his unwarranted absence from August 11 to August 23.” “They refused to believe I was in police detention at the time.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.Even when he returned to Pali on October 6, he was questioned by the railway police and was let off after an hour. He said, "I have resumed work in the CHC, but am still under suspicion. I thank the police for getting my job back, but I don't believe things will ever be the same for me again."
