Overview
- Police arrested Venerable Pallegama Hemarathana, 71, on Saturday at a private hospital in Colombo during a probe into the alleged 2022 assault of an 11-year-old girl.
- A magistrate in Anuradhapura had issued an arrest warrant and placed a foreign travel ban on the monk before the detention.
- Investigators say the girl, now 15, was abused on the grounds of a revered temple in Anuradhapura where Hemarathana serves as chief priest.
- Police also arrested the teen’s mother on suspicion of aiding and abetting, and said the monk will be brought before a judge.
- Hemarathana is custodian of a sacred Bodhi-tree descendant and oversees eight pilgrimage temples, which makes this the country’s most high-profile clergy abuse case.