44 violations in Andaman: New twist in preacher Chau’s killing

 

Port Blair, NOV,29: The killing of American preacher, Allen John Chau in Andaman by Sentinelese, the story taking so many turns and twists.

The restricted Area Permit (RAP), which forbids people from visiting prohibited locations without permission, may be reimposed in the North Sentinel island where An American, Allen John Chau was killed by members of a highly protected and isolated tribe, officials said Wednesday. The central government has also found that 44 incidents of violation of rules and regulations including RAP, by foreigners have taken place in Andaman and Nicobar Islands in recent past.

The North sentinels island is one of the 29 islands in Andamans where till June, foreigners had to take special permission before being allowed to visit. Even though RAP was withdrawn, any tourist is required to take permission from the forest department and the administration of the Andamans as it is protected under two other acts -- The Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation, 1956 (PAT) and forest acts.

The Protection of aboriginal people act says …

About this killing of Chau, the police said, the slain American had enlisted the help of a local electronics engineer and water sports service provider and hired five fishermen to evade the patrolling teams of police, Coast Guard and Navy to approach the island. For this, the local fishermen were paid around Rs 25,000 by Chau.

Chau and the team had started on November 14 around 8 PM for the North Sentinel Island and reached there by midnight.

In the morning of November 17, they saw a dead person being buried at the shore which from the silhouette of the body, clothing and circumstances appeared to be the body of Chau, the police said. Chau’s accomplice and the fishermen were later arrested by the police.

Delegation of ‘National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) will visit Andaman on December 4 to assess the situation due to killing of Chau.

After report received from Andaman Islands, Home Ministry Official has reportedly told media that- ‘A worst case scenario would be reimposition of the RAP in the north Sentinel island along with other few islands.