Vivek Bhatnager of the Hindu newspaper comments on the protest as it enters its final day (2'46")

A man who has spent six days perched on top of a communications tower in the Indian captial, New Delhi, has finally decided to come down.

The man, Ashraf Jamal Khan, who is a Muslim, climbed the 400-foot tower as a protest because he says his Hindu wife, Poonam, has been abducted by her family.

He stayed there for six days without food, and used a mobile phone to communicate until the batteries ran out.

He came down when officials from the National Human Rights commission assured him they would search for his wife.

He was taken to hospital amid cheers from onlookers who had gathered around the tower.

Mr Khan says he married his wife three months ago after a five-year affair, but her family objected to the inter-religious marriage.

He has sent out various appeals about the case, including one to the Indian President, K.R. Narayanan.

However, a spokesman for the President said he would not intervene.

A police official said they had recorded a charge of trespass against Mr Khan because the tower he climbed is government property.

"However, we have not arrested him as he is in a very weak condition," the official said.

Mr Khan carried out a similar protest last year, but came down after just 11 eleven hours.
 

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