A Colombo court has remanded a senior Buddhist monk facing allegations of sexual abuse of a minor. The Colombo Fort magistrate’s court ordered 71-year-old Pallegama Hemarathana, chief priest of a prominent temple, to be held in remand until May 22. The court also directed that he be moved from the private hospital where he was receiving treatment to the National Hospital.
Hemarathana was arrested on May 9 after an investigation into the alleged sexual abuse of a girl who is now 15. The alleged incidents took place on the grounds of a temple in Anuradhapura, in Sri Lanka’s north central province, roughly 200 kilometres from Colombo. The complaint was initially registered in March and the arrest followed weeks of inquiries led by the National Child Protection Authority.
Hemarathana is the head of Atamasthana, the group of eight highly venerated Buddhist shrines that include the Sri Maha Bodhi and sites visited by large numbers of pilgrims; the shrines are part of a cultural heritage circuit visited by tens of thousands of devotees.
Authorities also arrested the girl’s mother on charges of aiding and abetting child abuse. Police detained Hemarathana at the emergency unit of a private hospital in Colombo, where he had been undergoing treatment at the time of his arrest.
The case remains under investigation and further legal proceedings are expected when the remand period ends.
