The image of Thailand’s monastic sangha, which has been tarnished in recent years by a growing litany of scandals involving corruption, misconduct, and impropriety, has once again come under scrutiny in light of recent reports about a 51-year-old temple abbot accused of detaining and sexually abusing a 13-year-old novice monk.

Among the allegations detailed in media reports published in October, Phra Khru Sangkharakwinai Inthawinyo, the abbot of Wat Intharam, a Buddhist temple in Kanchanburi in western Thailand, has been accused of detaining the novice monk in his residence for five days and forcing him to provide massages and oral sex.

In a scathing editorial published in the Bangkok Post newspaper on Wednesday, veteran Thai journalist Sanitsuda Ekachai lamented that reports of sexual misconduct among Thailand’s Buddhist monastics have become so frequent as to be almost commonplace. She observed that without sincere and far-reaching reforms and greater transparency in the way monastic communities are governed, Buddhist temples would remain breeding grounds for abuse and could no longer be considered safe sanctuaries of spiritual refuge for the nation’s children.

The novice monk, identified only by the nickname Nat, has alleged that since being ordained in June, the abbot often ordered him to provide massages and oral sex, and even going so far as to detain him for daily abuse over a five-day period. The boy alleged that the abbot had intimidated him into complying, saying he possessed a firearm.

After telephoning relatives for help, reports indicate that the boy was finally rescued from the abbot’s residence by 41-year-old monk Phra Natthee Sirijantho, who alleged that the abbot kicked him, stepped on the boy’s chest, and repeatedly hit his face.

The head of Buddhist affairs in Kanchanaburi, Somsak Sammano, is reported to have said that senior local monks would form a committee to investigate the accusations, “followed by an order from the Kanchanaburi cleric elders to defrock the pedophile monk.” (Bangkok Post)

The abbot has denied all accusations.