Port Blair, Jan. 11: Highly irresponsible reports have appeared in the press and on the electronic media on the basis of a news item appearing in the ‘Observer’, London, said the DG Police in a communication.
The gist is that a policeman had accepted a bribe from Survival International and ordered a group of Jarawa Women to dance naked in front of tourists.
On observing the clipping and details the following discrepancies become clear: -
Firstly, it is not known as to in which year this particular clip was recorded. It is amply evident that the person alleged to be a policeman is not a policeman as has been widely and erroneously reported.
Much has been made about the women dancing naked. It is clarified that at the time this video was recorded, most of the Jarawas did not wear clothes. Even today, those in the jungle are not clothed. It is also obvious that it is videographer (who is breaking the law of the land) and who is inciting them to dance.
“Survival/Search International is an NGO that from time to time raises such issues. This is because they collect vast donations in the name of protecting the primitive tribes of the world. What work they actually do is a mystery”.
The Director Steven Corry and other such employees of the NGO have taken it upon themselves to draw fat salaries and benefits from funds donated for primitive tribes. It is obvious that funds are low and have to be stimulated by such sensational lies, DGP commented.
Nowhere in the video clip is a policeman shown taking a bribe. The ‘Observer’, London may be asked to apologise to the A&N Police and to disclose the name of the videographer so that legal action could be initiated against him for recording such a scene and worse still releasing it for further publicity to the media and thereby lowering the dignity of the members of the Jarawa Tribe.
In the last 5 years, almost a thousand individuals have been arrested by the A&N Police for illegally interacting with the Jarawa Tribe, the DG Police added.
Addition: In continuation of the earlier Press Release concerning the allegation made against a policeman for taking a bribe and organizing a group of Jarawa women to dance in front of tourists, a close examination of the video clip put forward in support of this claim shows that the person in question is wearing a camaflouge pattern whereas the A&N Police wear plain khaki uniforms. Also the stripes on his shoulders are of white colour whereas our head constables wear red stripes. The ‘Observer’, London obviously has not bother to ascertain these facts before stating that he was a policeman. The person in question could be a private security guard. The esteemed newspaper thus owes an apology to the entire Andaman and Nicobar Police Force which it has vilified for the past 24 hours.