Sri Lanka’s top monk arrested in child abuse case, mother charged

Sri Lanka’s most senior Buddhist monk facing a child abuse allegation was taken into custody at a private hospital in Colombo, turning a criminal case into a test of accountability for one of the country’s most revered religious institutions. Authorities also arrested the girl’s mother, deepening scrutiny of how the case unfolded around a temple in Anuradhapura.

Police identified the monk as Venerable Pallegama Hemarathana Thero, 71, the chief priest and custodian of eight sacred sites in Sri Lanka. A magistrate’s court in Anuradhapura issued an arrest warrant and a foreign travel ban before his arrest on May 9, 2026. He has since been remanded to prison and is expected to appear in court on Tuesday, with authorities saying he will be held under medical supervision at the Colombo prison hospital.

The alleged abuse took place in 2022 at a highly venerated temple in Anuradhapura, about 200 km north of Colombo. The girl is now 15, though several reports say she was 11 at the time of the alleged abuse. Police said the case began with a complaint filed in March, and child protection officials later said a separate abduction complaint and concerns about delays in the arrest widened the investigation.

Authorities said the victim’s mother was arrested for aiding and abetting the monk. Some reports also said she was accused of selling the child for money. She was remanded until May 15. The case has drawn intense attention because it centers on a religious leader who holds responsibility for sacred sites in a city listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site and revered as one of the holiest places in Sri Lankan Buddhism.

The arrest has also sharpened attention on the wider response from temple leadership and the Buddhist establishment, with the case now seen as the country’s highest-profile clergy abuse prosecution and the most senior monk ever accused of such a crime in Sri Lanka. For a religious institution that commands deep public trust, the handling of the allegations is now under as much scrutiny as the charges themselves.