Buddhist mutt director held in Bihar's Bodh Gaya for sexually abusing 15 boys; minors to be produced before court

The Bihar Police on Wednesday detained the director of a Buddhist mutt in Gaya district’s Bodh Gaya, after minor students of the institute alleged he had sexually abused them. The accused, Bhante Sanghpriya, was detained for interrogation after 15 boys from Prasanna Jyoti Buddhist School and Meditation Centre in Mastipur complained about him, district police official Anil Kumar was quoted as saying by IANS. The accused Buddhist monk allegedly forced the children into having unnatural sex with him, according to the police complaint. All the victims are between 6 and 12 years old and hail from Assam’s Karbi Anglong district. [caption id=“attachment_5074061” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. PTI[/caption] According to reports, the sexual abuse surfaced after one of the child monks escaped from the mutt and reached his home in Assam. After learning about his return, the parents of the other children who lived around his home then reached Bodh Gaya to take their children home. When the parents sought to know about the matter, the accused monk expelled all 15 victims from the institute, reported  News18. The children are being questioned by the station house officer of Mahila police station. They will be produced before a magistrate on Thursday, and their statements will be recorded under relevant sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure. They will also be taken for medical tests, based on the results of which a case may be lodged against the monk. This incident comes to light at a time when authorities are investigating the Muzaffarpur shelter home scandal. The sexual assault of 34 girls over a period of time at the Bihar government-funded shelter home came to light after a social audit was conducted by the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences. With inputs from agencies