Indian legislation to protect Jarawa tribals

June 2, 2012: The Indian government on Thursday approved promulgation of a legislation that provides for imprisonment upto seven years for photography or videography of members of the aboriginal Jarawa tribe in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The move follows the controversy over a video by UK newspaper ‘The Observer” that showed scantily dressed Jarawa tribal women being encouraged to dance for food before tourists. The Jarawa tribe has just 403 members, who live in deep jungles in south Andaman in the Indian Ocean.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters that the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Protection of Aboriginal tribes) Amendment Regulation 2012 will cover the entire Andaman and Nicobar Islands. She said tourist establishments would be prohibited and other commercial establishments would be regulated in the buffer zone, which would protect the aboriginal tribes from undesirable outside influences.
The law incorporates stringent penal provisions to deter unauthorised entries, photography, videography, hunting, use of alcohol, inflammable material or biological germs, or even putting up advertisements to attract tourists in the buffer zone. The zone would comprise of an area upto 5 km radius around the Jarawa tribal reserve.
"The offenders can be imprisoned from 3 to 7 years and fined upto Rs 10,000," Soni said. The minister maintained that an earlier attempt by the government to create this buffer zone had been quashed by the Calcutta High Court. A Special Leave Petition in the matter is pending with the Supreme Court. Soni said that the stringent provisions introduced through this promulgation would act as a deterrent to check the menace of unauthorised entry into the "reserved area".