Man in Jarawa video not a policeman, says Andaman DGP

Police on Friday claimed that the person who was shown in a video ordering semi-naked Jarawa tribal women to dance naked in front of tourists after accepting money was not a policeman.

"A close examination of the video clippings telecast by TV channels revealed that the person in camouflaged uniform is not a policeman," Andaman and Nicobar's Director General of Police S B Deol said.

The video was shot by unknown persons on Andaman Trunk Road by enticing the Jarawa women and children to violate the law, he said.

London-based newspaper 'Observer' had recently came up with a video claiming of police involvement in 'human safaris' in the Andaman Islands.

The police have already registered a case against those involved in filming the video while the Indian government has also ordered a probe into the reports of Jarawa women being made to dance and parade for tourists' entertainment.

Police sources said during the last five years, they have arrested more than 1,000 persons for having illegally interacted with the protected Jarawa tribe.

The Jarawas, estimated to be around 400 in population now, live in the reserve forests on South Andamans and have largely shun contact with the outside world.

Under the Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation, 1956, any attempt to contact Jarawas, photographing them, stopping vehicles while transiting through their land or offering them rides is a punishable offence.