Sri Lanka’s high priest suspended for child abuse | Crime Stories

Pallegama Hemarathana is accused of molesting an 11-year-old girl in a Buddhist temple in 2022.

Sri Lanka’s Buddhist authorities have suspended a prominent elder accused of child molestation, in the secular country’s biggest case involving a religious leader.

In an unusual punishment, 71-year-old Pallegama Hemarathana was fired on Saturday as the chief custodian of the highly revered Ficus plant planted on the tree believed to have hidden the Buddha.

“The Council of Monks of the Malwatte Chapter decided today to suspend Ven. Hemarathana until the end of the proceedings against him,” said senior priests.

The police caught Hemarathana on May 9 following allegations that he sexually assaulted an 11-year-old girl in 2022 at the revered Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi temple in Anuradhapura, 200km (125 miles) north of Colombo. Hemarathana was arrested while he was in a special hospital in the capital Colombo, where he was checked for help while a criminal investigation was carried out.

Officials said the victim’s mother was also arrested for helping the monk.

Hemarathana has been granted bail as the court has barred him from going abroad.

The temple draws thousands of people every day who pay their respects to a tree that Buddhists believe is closely related to the same Ficus that hid the Buddha after he attained enlightenment.

The suspension of Hemarathana came on the same day Sri Lanka celebrated Vesak, the anniversary of Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and death.

There have been several cases of religious leaders abusing children in Sri Lanka, but Hemarathana is the most senior monk to be accused of such a crime.

Last month, 22 monks were arrested at Colombo airport after 110kg (242lbs) of marijuana were found hidden in their bags, the largest drug haul ever found. The monks remain in prison awaiting trial, but have not been suspended from the priesthood.