Sri Lanka’s Senior Monk Arrested in Underage Abuse Probe
Police in Colombo arrested 71-year-old Pallegama Hemarathana, a senior Buddhist monk and chief custodian of a revered Bodhi-tree temple, on allegations he sexually abused an 11-year-old girl in 2022 at a temple in Anuradhapura. The case prompted a foreign travel ban and the victim’s mother was arrested for allegedly aiding the monk; he is due in court soon, marking Sri Lanka’s most high-profile clergy abuse case to date.