Senior Sri Lankan Buddhist Monk Arrested for Alleged Child Sexual Abuse

A prominent Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka has been arrested on charges of sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl, in a case that has become the most significant involving a religious leader locally. The suspect is Venerable Pallegama Hemarathana, 71, who was taken into custody by police on Saturday (August 3) from a private hospital in the capital, Colombo, where he was receiving treatment for an illness as the criminal investigation against him progressed.

As the highest-ranking Buddhist prelate in Colombo, Hemarathana is accused of committing the abuse in 2022 at a sacred temple in Anuradhapura. Authorities also said the victim's mother was arrested for allegedly aiding the monk.

“We will follow the judge's instructions regarding further actions,” a police statement said on Saturday. Hemarathana, who had previously been barred from leaving the country, was detained under an order from the Chief Judge of the Anuradhapura court, following a complaint by the Child Protection Authority over delays in his arrest, the Daily News of Sri Lanka reported. The court directed police to arrest Hemarathana and produce him before the court “without delay.”

In addition to his position in Colombo, the monk is the chief incumbent of eight sacred temples along a major Buddhist pilgrimage route. He also oversees a tree believed to have grown from a branch of the Bodhi tree in India, where the Buddha attained enlightenment over 2,500 years ago.

There have been numerous cases of clerical child abuse in Sri Lanka, but the latest arrest involves the highest-ranking monk charged with such crimes. Last month, 22 monks were arrested at Colombo International Airport after 110 kg of cannabis was found hidden in their luggage, in one of the biggest drug trafficking busts ever detected at the airport.