Efforts on to find body of US tourist in Andaman
NEW DELHI: Even as the bid to trace the body of the American tourist who was allegedly killed by members of a protected tribe in the Andaman and Nicobar islands was on, Home Ministry officials said on Thursday that he appeared to be more of an adventure sports enthusiast than an evangelist and violated local laws to reach the highly-restricted island.
They added that John Allen Chau neither informed the police as is required under the law nor did he take permission from the forest department and the local administration before reaching the North Sentinel Island, where two fishermen were also killed in 2006 by the Sentinelese tribals. Home Ministry officials said that all efforts, including aerial survey, were being carried out to trace Chau’s body.
A senior official, however, explained the difficulty in accessing the area, “We even cannot carry out the proper census in the island. We can only make an assessment of the number of people living through an aerial survey.”On Thursday, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes sought an immediate report from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the A&N administration on the incident within three days.
If the commission does not receive a response within this time period, it would ask for representations in person from them by exercising the powers of civil courts conferred on it, sources said. The North Sentinel Island is one of 29 islands in Andamans where till June, foreigners had to take the Restricted Area Permit (RAP) before being allowed to visit.
When asked if the government was planning to re-impose RAP in the wake of the incident, the official said there was no such plan and any decision would only be taken after “due diligence”.On Thursday, the NCST reiterated the need for being “utra sensitive” to the vulnerability of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).