Madhumala Chattopadhyay

After an American missionary illegally visited North Sentinel Island and was killed by its inhabitants, Chattopadhyay told reporters that she disapproved of his actions. "The Sentinelese and other tribes don’t need to be oppressed with religion, because doing so will make them more hostile," she said in 2018.

As of 2015, Madhumala Chattopadhyay works for India's Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and lives in New Delhi. She has a desk job which doesn't involve field work.

Before Madhumala Chattopadhyay was allowed to do field work in the Andaman Islands, the Anthropological Survey of India required her and her parents to sign contracts confirming they knew the dangers of work with uncontacted peoples and would not hold the government responsible if Chattopadhyay was injured or killed while doing research. She spent six years researching the various tribes of Andaman and Nicobar islands. She last visited Andamans in 1999.

On 4 January 1991, Madhumala Chattopadhyay was part of a team that made the first peaceful contact with the Sentinelese tribe of Andamans. She was also the first female outsider to contact the Sentinelese. Chattopadhyay at that time was a research associate with the Anthropological Survey of India. She went to the North Sentinel Island with the support of local administration's ship MV Tarmugli. She was a part of a team of 13. The key team members were S. Awaradi (Director, Tribal Welfare, A&NI administration), who was the team leader; Arun Mullick, who was the medical officer (for providing medical attention in case of sickness or injury); and Chattopadhyay herself, the team anthropologist. The rest of the team were support crew.

In 1991, Chattopadhyay was part of a team that contacted the Aong tribe. The Indian government had established friendly contact with Aong people in 1975, but prohibited women from joining contact parties, as visiting women had previously been attacked. Although Chattopadhyay was allowed as a member of the 1991 contact party, she stayed on a small boat while her male teammates went ashore to meet with the islanders. However, Aong women on shore called for Chattopadhyay to come and meet them. Chattopadhyay has some mastery of the Ongan languages, including the Jarawa language, so she was able to understand some of what they said. As she approached shore, five Aong men and one woman climbed aboard. The Aong woman sat next to her, and Chattopadhyay hugged her. More women greeted her when she came ashore.

Over multiple visits, Chattopadhyay developed a bond with some Aong women; she was invited to their homes, given food, invited to play with their children, and given small gifts. She also helped the Aong women with their daily chores. She went on around eight visits to the Aong tribe between 1991 and 1999.

Madhumala Chattopadhyay (born 16 March 1961) is an Indian anthropologist who specializes in the Indigenous peoples of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In 1991, Chattopadhyay and her colleagues were the first outsiders to make peaceful contact with the Sentinelese people.