Monk sexually assaults underage girl

Monk sexually abuses underage girl

September 6

A monk sexually abused a 7-year-old Grade-1 girl at a monastery in Taungoo at around 3 p.m. on September 4, while the girl's mother was performing chores at the monastery, it has been learned.

A mother and her two children from Ward 11 in Taungoo were returning from Kanzin village when the mother stopped at a monastery in Zalitaung, Taungoo, to do chores. She discovered a monk giving her daughter sweets and then placing her on a bed and molesting her, according to reports.

After the incident, the mother took the child home, and upon questioning, the girl said similar incidents had occurred about two or three times before. The mother then filed a complaint at the police station.

The monk who committed the sexual abuse, U Zin Thiha, who has 2 years in the monkhood and whose lay name is Hnin Ko, aged 45, is originally from Aunggyi village, Khaungyan village tract, Oktwin Township. He has been arrested and charged by Taungoo No. 2 Township Police Station, according to sources.

Similarly, in Ayeyarwady Region, a 56-year-old monk with 15 years in the monkhood, whose monastic name is U Uttama and lay name is U Aye Lwin, from Nwe Hintha Forest Monastery in Payagokto Shan Su village, Myaungmya, allegedly sexually abused a 14-year-old Grade-5 female student multiple times within the monastery compound, resulting in pregnancy.

"The girl's family is poor. They placed the two siblings in the monastery to study. The girl is in Grade 5 but she's 14 and physically mature. The monk had been assaulting her against her will since 2025. Now that she's 5 months pregnant, he was trying to abort the pregnancy with traditional methods. When the village found out, they filed a complaint. When the case was filed, he fled. The girl is receiving medical treatment at Myaungmya Hospital," a local resident said.

Because the abuse was committed by someone in robes, the monastery's abbot and responsible officials filed a case on Saturday, August 29. The fugitive U Uttama (a) U Aye Lwin was arrested on the morning of August 31 in Hpa-an, and Myaungmya Township Police Station has charged him under three sections of the law, according to reports.