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NEW DELHI — 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 on 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.

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“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.

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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.

Mr. Chidambaram said the video “violated” Indian law, which bans any contact with the protected tribes on the tropical archipelago, some 1,200 kilometres from mainland India.

He said analysis suggested the video was taken about three or four years ago. When it emerged, police on the islands said it was old footage and that such abuses no longer took place.

Survival International, which lobbies on behalf of tribal groups worldwide, said the video showed tourists apparently enjoying “human zoos.”

“The Jarawa are not circus ponies bound to dance at anyone’s bidding,” the group said.