The National Office of Buddhism is considering reviving a bill concerning the ethical conduct of Buddhist monks and their followers, to allow for criminal penalties to be imposed upon both clerics and lay people who cause damage to Buddhism, according to Prayuth Prathetsena, vice president of the Dharma Army Lawyers Foundation.
He said it is time for the bill to be revived, in the wake of a series of sex scandals in which least eight senior monks are implicated, some of whom are provincial or district chief monks alleged to have had intimate relationships with a female Buddhist follower, identified only as “Miss Golf.”
He noted that, a monk having an intimate relationship with a woman is regarded as the worst disciplinary violation, which warrants the monk being defrocked. He pointed out, however, that there are no legal penalties for the actions of such unruly monks or the lay people involved.
In many cases, Prayuth said, most of the affected monks choose to leave the monkhood, to evade the prospect of being defrocked, and escape scot free, despite the damage they cause to Buddhism and the credibility of the monastic circle.
“This a big loophole in the Thai law,” he said, as he cited the case in Laos, where a monk and a lay follower involved in a sex scandal can both face prison terms of up to three years, as well as heavy fines, if convicted.
Prayuth said that, according to the bill, to be revived for resubmission to parliament, a monk who is found guilty of having sex with a male of female follower would face a prison term of one to seven years and a fine of between 20,000 to 140,000 baht.
Lay followers, too, would face similar penalties, he added.
In the past two weeks, at least eight senior monks have been implicated in sex scandals with “Golf”. Five of them have already left the monkhood, including the abbots of Tri Thosathep Temple in Bangkok and Phra Phutthachai Temple in Saraburi, the assistant abbot of Pak Nam Temple in Bangkok, the provincial chief monk of Phitsanuloke and the assistant abbot of Sothon Wararam Temple in Chachoengsao.
Anti-corruption officers, under the supervision of Pol Maj-Gen Charoonkiat Pankaew, the deputy commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau, have been investigating all the cases.
According to police sources, officers have found more than 80,000 video and audio clips, featuring intimate relationships between several senior monks and “Golf,” on five smart phones confiscated from the woman.
