Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov was arrested for entering the North Sentinel Island, a prohibited tribal reserve area. The 24-year-old made several visits to the islands before being arrested. An American man, Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, has been arrested for entering the prohibited areas in India's Andaman where the fiercely secretive “Sentinelese” tribes live.

Sentinelese are protective about their territory and isolation and one of the most isolated tribes in the world. According to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Andaman and Nicobar Police, Mykhailo Polyakov was arrested for entering the prohibited tribal reserve area. The 24-year-old made several visits to the islands before being arrested on March 31. Police seized a GoPro camera from him, and footage from it confirmed that he had gone to the restricted areas in North Sentinel Island. Indian news agency reported that Polyakov had told police he was a "thrill seeker" whose earlier travels included a trip to Afghanistan to meet Taliban members.

The Sentinelese are among the world's most isolated tribes. Living in North Sentinel Island in the Andaman, they are fiercely protective about their territory and are known to attack strangers using bows and arrows. The administration of Andaman and Nicobar Islands is strict about protecting the Sentinelese.

In 2018, another man, John Allen Chau, was killed by the tribe. The American missionary was attempting to make contact with the tribe.

Polyakov visited India thrice in the past five months, according to Andaman police. He first arrived in India on October 18 last year, tried to do a recce of North Sentinel Island using an inflatable kayak, but hotel staff stopped him. "He visited the Baratang Islands, illegally filmed the Jarawa tribe, and explored various areas in Port Blair before departing on January 27".

On his third visit on March 26, he went to Port Blair with an inflatable boat. "He assembled the motor at a local workshop, purchased fuel, and checked into a resort on March 27. He conducted research on sea conditions, tides, and accessibility from Kurma Dera Beach, planning his journey meticulously," the first information report said.

At this time, a story about the first woman who made friendly contact with the Sentinelese has come back to focus. She is Indian anthropologist Madhumala Chattopadhyay, who is known to be the first and possibly the only, woman who had made direct, friendly contact with the tribes of Sentinel island.

Chattopadhyay, along with a team from India, made the friendly contact with the tribes, which was also captured on video. Chattopadhyay worked on and documented the lives of Aong (Jarawa) tribe Onge tribe in Andaman.

Chattopadhyay went to the island with a team of anthropologists and made contact with the tribes people on January 4, 1991.  She and her colleagues are believed to have been the first outsiders to make peaceful contact with the otherwise hostile Sentinelese tribe. Chattopadhyay's team was led by SA Awaradi, who was the Director of India's Tribal Welfare Department at the time.

They offered the gift of coconuts to the tribes’ people. They were initially met with hostility, but the tribes later eased into their presence. In subsequent trips, Chattopadhyay was seen interactng with the tribeswomen and was even photographed holding a child from the tribe.

"They are not uncivilized. They understand nature better than us. Don't forget, they knew a tsunami was coming and moved to higher grounds," she said in a later interview.

Like Chattopadhyay's team did, Polykov went to the island with coconut. Interestingly, he also took some Diet Coke cans as offerings to the tribes. He blew a whistle to capture the attention of the tribes but to no avail. As he could not find any tribespeople, Polykov left the 'gifts' on the shore and recorded a video, as per police.

In fact, North Sentinel Island is home to the uncontacted Sentinelese tribe, fiercely resisting outsiders for thousands of years. Nestled deep in the Indian Ocean, North Sentinel Island is still one of the most remote locations on the planet, inhabited by the Sentinelese, a native tribe which has resisted contact with the rest of the world for millennia. Estimated to number between 50 and 100, the Sentinelese are thought to be direct lineal descendants of the initial humans to migrate out of Africa, classifying them as one of the oldest uncontacted tribes.

The Indian government has banned all travel to the island and made it illegal for outsiders to set foot on its shores. The Sentinelese have been in isolation for more than 60,000 years, defending themselves against any visitors with bows and arrows. Any efforts to travel to the island by researchers, government officials, or adventurous explorers have been repelled with hostility.

The Sentinelese have a long tradition of protecting their island from outsiders. In 1896, an escaped Indian convict who had washed up on the beach was murdered by the tribe. In 1974, they shot arrows at a National Geographic film crew trying to document their lifestyle. Since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, an Indian Coast Guard helicopter dispatched to assess the tribe's status was confronted with arrows, indicating their sustained existence and rejection of outside intervention.

One of the worst incidents was the one that occurred in 2018 when US missionary John Allen Chau illicitly tried to reach the island to spread Christianity. He was murdered by the Sentinelese, thereby reiterating their message of not wanting to be disturbed.

Although most interactions with the Sentinelese have been unfriendly, some peaceful contacts have been documented. In the early 1990s, Indian anthropologists Triloknath Pandit and Madhumala Chattopadhyay initiated careful contact, being able to present coconuts to the tribe. These, though, never evolved into regular communication.

The Sentinelese's extreme suspicion of outsiders can be traced to colonial days. In 1880, British naval officer Maurice Vidal Portman abducted six islanders and brought them to Port Blair. The abductees, possessing no immunity to new diseases, became ill and two of them died. The remaining four were sent back with gifts, but the harm was already done. This traumatic experience most likely had a big role to play in the tribe's hostility towards outsiders.

North Sentinel Island is still a mystery. Satellite imagery shows dense forest, virgin beaches, and tiny clearings, but the island has never been explored or mapped in detail because of protective laws. Anthropologists and historians still guess at Sentinelese life, language, and means of survival.

With the advent of modern diseases, tourism, and climatic changes threatening them seriously, experts believed their isolation is the key to retaining their existence. The island is still a glimpse into the primitive past of humanity—a tale that needs to be seen from a distance, letting the Sentinelese live undisturbed, as they had lived for millennia.