Police have refused to investigate an NLD official accused of beating a 12-year-old girl and forcing her to work “morning till night” in his home, while the party says it will only look into the case if the victim complains to them.

Thaung Han, a district-level executive committee member for the party in the Ayeyarwady delta, tied the girl to a tree before beating her and deprived her of food if she didn’t work hard enough, the girl alleges.

Thaung Han, his wife and two children all took part in the abuse, she added.

“They beat me with a bamboo stick. Sometimes they beat me while I was pounding the chilli,” the girl told Myanmar Now.

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“They didn’t allow me to eat if they thought I hadn’t swept the floor or I didn’t do a good job... They dunked my head in water and beat me,” she said.

The girl, who is the grandniece of Thaung Han’s wife, came to stay with his family in Myin Ka Kone village in Mawlamyine Gyun Township three years ago.

The wife, Myint Myint Aye, denies the allegations and Myanmar Now was unable to contact Thaung Han directly.

Htun Lin, the station officer at the local police station, denied that Thaung Han’s position in the NLD had anything to do with the decision not to investigate.

Because the girl was related to his wife, police did not see it as abuse but as a case of guardians “disciplining” a child, he told Myanmar Now.

He also suggested that the people supporting the girl in trying to open a case had a personal vendetta against Thaung Han.

“I think some people dislike U Thaung Han. Those people encouraged us to open a case against him,” he said.

He admitted, however, that police had not even questioned the girl about the case.

Thaung Han’s neighbours corroborated the girl’s story during interviews with Myanmar Now.

Lon Ma, a nextdoor neighbour of the family, said she saw Thaung Han tie the girl to a tree and beat her.

“We don’t know why she was beaten although she worked from morning till night,” she said.

‘I am going to drink poison’

“You can see the branches on the tree in front of our house are chopped off. They were chopped off by the girl for wood. She had to climb the tree and cut the branches off,” she added.

Another neighbour said she often heard the sounds of the child being beaten and crying out from inside Thuang Han’s house.

“They didn’t like to be watched. If they thought we were watching, they took the child inside the house to beat her,” said the neighbour, Thin Thin Khaing.

Thin Thin Khaing said the girl had told her she was feeling suicidal. “Auntie, I am going to drink poison,” she recalls her saying.

After that Thin Thin Khaing advised the girl to escape and go to the village abbot for help.

On March 17 the girl went out to borrow a clothes iron and didn’t come back, instead heading to the nearby monastery.

The abbot let her stay and a local villager named Pyay Kyaw tried to open a case at the police station.

“The police said they heard it was the relative disciplining the child,” he told Myanmar Now.  

“They didn’t give us any advice. We are preparing to file a lawsuit directly at the court,” he said.

Myanmar Now did not see any visible scars or wounds on the girl’s body. But the abbott's mother, Daw Kwe, said there were bruises on the girl’s hands and fingers when she first arrived at the monastery.

‘Scared of the police’

Thaung Han’s wife, Myint Myint Aye, said her family had never abused the girl. She told Myanmar Now that the girl had run away to the monastery because she had stolen some snacks from a police boat and become frightened of being caught.

“She was scared the police might arrest her,” she said.

She also accused the girl of stealing food from a local snack shop at night, and stealing money from home.

She added that the family did not force the girl to climb trees, as the neighbour said, but she volunteered to do so.

Thaung Han’s current whereabouts is unclear. Myint Myint Aye said she did not have his phone number, as did the village administrator.   

Kyaw Kyaw, an NLD MP for Mawlamyine Gyun Township, said the girl’s case is not related to the NLD party. He added that the party does not protect its members in criminal cases.

Nyunt Htay, the NLD township chairman, said the party would only act on the allegations if the alleged victim came to complain.

“We can find a solution if the victim comes to talk to us. We will discuss it with them. So, just bring the victim and the plaintiff,” he said.

The girl’s mother brought her to Myin Ka Kone, a village of some 300 households that is only accessible by boat, three years ago. But a few months later she left the girl behind to do work at her home village of Maybay.

Hla Myint, a relative of the mother who travelled form Maybay to Myin Ka Kone after hearing about the allegations, said no one knows the mother’s current whereabouts.

“Her mother came back to village and did odd jobs for a year, we don’t know where she went after that,” she told Myanmar Now.

She added: “When we asked her about the child, she said she left her at this village. We thought the child would be taken care of.”