India on Thursday said it was trying to track down those responsible for a video of naked tribal women dancing for tourists in the Andaman islands, where filming of aborigines is banned. British newspaper The Observer at the weekend released the undated video showing Jarawa tribal women being lured with food to dance and sing for visitors to the Andamans, which are Indian territory.
“We are looking for the videographer (and) we are looking for the tour operator,” Home Minister P. Chidambaram said, after rights campaigners and politicians expressed outrage over the footage.
“I have instructed the Andaman administration to quickly apprehend… the tour operator concerned and interrogate them,” he told reporters in New Delhi. Rights groups say many travel operators entice tourists to tribal habitats with the promise that they can photograph some of the world’s most reclusive aborigines.
Chidambaram said the video “violated” Indian law, which bans any contact with the protected tribes on the tropical archipelago, some 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) from mainland India.
