Hunger striker gravely ill

Press, 17 March 1977, Page 8

Hunger striker gravely ill

NZPA-Reuter New Delhi Mr George Fernandes, chairman of the Indian Socialist Party, has been admitted to hospital in New Delhi in a serious condition, according to a spokesman for the Opposition Janata Party. Mr Fernandes, who has been on a hunger strike in jail since Friday protesting against his continued detention, was suffering from acetone in his urine, nausea, and over-all weakness, the spokesman said. He also had lost skg in weight.. Mr Fernandes, aged 46, has been on trial for alleged criminal conspiracy to overthrow the Government by force. A Delhi court refused to grant him bail on Friday,

preventing him from campaigning for the Parliamentary election. He is a candidate for the united Opposition Janata Party in Muzaffarpur, Bihar- state. The spokesman said that a team of Government doctors was attending Mr Fernandes at the hospital. The Government had refused a request from the party to allow private doctors to examine him in jail.

The authorities had also deliberately delayed admitting him to hospital after his condition deteriorated, the spokesman said. He also disclosed that the Janata Party had appealed to Mr Fernandes to end his fast “as his life was very precious for the party and the nation.”