Surprising decision in case of missionary killed by tribe on remote island

The US has announced it will not pursue legal action against the isolated Indian tribe that killed an American missionary.

John Allen Chau, 26, was killed with bow and arrows after travelling to the island located in the Bay of Bengal, trying to convert the tribe to Christianity.

The inhabitants of North Sentinel Island, which is out of bounds for visitors, are believed to be the last pre-Neolithic tribe in the world.

Mr Chau was shot and killed after being illegally ferried to the island by fishermen. He was then dragged across a beach and buried in the sand, police say.

Despite missions to retrieve Mr Chau’s remains, his body was never returned.

Three months after the missionary’s death, his home country has confirmed they will not press charges against the tribes people.

“The US government has not asked or pursued any sort of sanctions that the Indian government would take against the tribal people in this case,” said Samuel Brownback, the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, said in a news conference, according to Indo-Asian News Service (IANS).

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“It’s a tragic situation and a tragic case of what’s happened, but that’s not something that’s been asked,” he said.

Mr Chau had made two or three trips to the island by canoe from November 15, making contact with the tribe but returning to his boat.

He told the fishermen one day later that he would not come back from the island and instructed them to return home and pass on some handwritten notes he had made to a friend.

The next morning the fishermen saw Mr Chau’s body being dragged across a beach and buried in the sand.

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