Give Exemplary Punishment to Culprits: LG

THE LIGHT OF ANDAMANS | VOL 35 ISSUE 24 | 13 JAN 2012

Give Exemplary Punishment to Culprits: LG

By Staff Reporter

Lt Governor, Bhopinder Singh has expressed his deep anguish by the shocking video showing members of our Jarawa tribes in the most sad and unfortunate circumstances, a most deplorable and disgraceful act against humanity. He has directed the Director General of Police to complete the investigations on a fast track to nab the culprits so that they can be meted out exemplary punishment.

The Lt Governor pointed out that in recent years, the Administration has taken various measures for the protection and welfare of our Jarawa tribes and other indigenous tribes. For the first time in 150 years of settlement, the actual number of Jarawa population has gone up by 40% in the last ten years. The Administration has carefully addressed over 1500 medical requirements of the Jarawas as and when sought by the Jarawas themselves with exclusive wards dedicated to them to ensure sensitivity of handling their cases in the clinics and hospitals. Over the past many years, the Jarawas and the non-tribal population have been living in a very peaceful and harmonious manner in their respective areas. However, an incident of this nature by some mischievous elements will not only create a misunderstanding and rift amongst the tribals and the non-tribal population but will also shame our islanders in particular and our country in general. Therefore there is a need to weed out these bad elements from our Islands which enjoy the reputation of being a very peaceful, secular and a unique model of unity in diversity to the entire world.

The Lt Governor has directed the Director General of Police to launch a crack down on all such dubious tour operators and their accomplices to ensure the utmost protection, dignity and welfare of our indigenous and primitive tribes.