Pallegama Hemarathana is accused of abusing an 11-year-old woman in a Buddhist temple in 2022.
Printed On 30 Could 2026
Sri Lanka’s Buddhist hierarchy has suspended a outstanding senior monk accused of sexually abusing a baby, within the religiously conservative nation’s highest-profile case involving a neighborhood clergyman.
In uncommon disciplinary motion, 71-year-old Pallegama Hemarathana was stripped of his tasks on Saturday because the chief custodian of a extremely honored Ficus plant grown from a sapling of a tree believed to have sheltered the Buddha.
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“The Council of Monks of the Malwatte Chapter determined at present to droop Ven. Hemarathana till the conclusion of the authorized proceedings towards him,” stated a press release issued by the chief clergymen.
Police arrested Hemarathana on Could 9 following allegations he sexually abused an 11-year-old woman in 2022 on the honored Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi temple in Anuradhapura, 200km (125 miles) north of Colombo. Hemarathana was detained throughout his keep at a personal hospital within the capital Colombo, the place he had checked in for remedy because the legal investigation progressed.
Authorities stated the sufferer’s mom had additionally been arrested for aiding and abetting the monk.
Hemarathana has since been granted bail whereas a court docket has barred him from travelling overseas.
The temple attracts 1000’s of individuals day by day who pay homage on the tree Buddhists imagine is intently linked to the identical Ficus that sheltered the Buddha when he attained enlightenment.
Hemarathana’s suspension got here on the identical day Sri Lanka celebrated Vesak, the anniversary of the Buddha’s beginning, enlightenment and loss of life.
There have been a number of instances of clergy abusing kids in Sri Lanka, however Hemarathana is essentially the most senior monk to be accused of such a criminal offense.
Final month, 22 monks had been arrested at Colombo’s worldwide airport after 110kg (242lbs) of hashish was discovered hidden of their baggage, in what was the most important drug smuggling discovery ever within the facility. The monks have remained in custody pending prosecution, however haven’t been suspended from the priesthood.
