"We refuse to call him a tourist. Yes, he came on a tourist visa but he came with a specific purpose to preach on a prohibited island," said (Dependra Pathak, Director General of Police of the Andaman and Nicobar islands).
Chau did not inform the police of his intentions to travel to the island to attempt to convert its inhabitants...
(A) 2011 survey only spotted 15 Sentinelese on their island -- the count was done from a distance due to the danger in approaching the tribe. In the 2001 census, the total population was estimated to be 39.
India has designated five indigenous tribal groups in the territory as "particularly vulnerable" due to the loss of sustaining resources and customs.
India's Ministry of Tribal Affairs has said that, with regard to Sentinelese tribes, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration "has adopted an 'eyes-on and hands-off' policy to ensure that no poachers enter into the island."
Learn more about the Sentinelese at Survival International.
(Above: 2004 photo of two Sentinelese people taken by the Indian Coast Guard) Read the rest
