People are still dying there at a high rate, higher than the norm for the country. Central however, is emerging as the SEX crime capital of the country, for crimes against children. It also came from the father and son businessmen charged with having sex with a twelve year old relative. Perhaps the last two are the same case.
Going just a bit further back, we had Amy Anamuthodo and Sean Luke, and a bit further back still, the five year old child who was being used as a prostitute by men in the village, Central again. That movie, and its glaring light on child sexual abuse, came about as the result of a girl in Central committing suicide because of repeated sexual assault by her father, and she not having anywhere to turn.
I remember well the concern on the faces of businessmen who attended the initial meetings of the project. They were very uncomfortable with the situation, and recognized that something had to be done. There was a sense of urgency about them.
The committee had talked of getting police officers sensitized to this sort of crime, of working closely — police, social workers and the business community to do something about these horrendous cases.
Some of that may be seen now in police and judges responses to reports of these crimes. Something has happened to this place, something that has eroded the societal values that most people used to subscribe to. We seem to have gone from aberration to something closer to standard procedure. A frightening situation if ever there was one. In Central, the number of mandirs, temples and churches seem almost to rival the number of houses. Yet, the morality of no sexual tampering with your daughters The Shattered Lives Case , and not having intimate relations with children seem to stand entirely outside the religious experience.
