Senior Sri Lankan monk arrested for alleged child sex crimes
Key takeaways
- Pallegama Hemarathana, the chief prelate of Colombo, is accused of abusing an 11-year-old girl in a temple.
- Authorities took 71-year-old Pallegama Hemarathana into custody on Saturday from a private hospital in the capital, Colombo, where he had checked in for treatment as a criminal probe against him progressed.
- The chief prelate of Colombo, Hemarathana is accused of committing the abuse in 2022 in a highly venerated temple in Anuradhapura.
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Pallegama Hemarathana, the chief prelate of Colombo, is accused of abusing an 11-year-old girl in a temple.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogle Add Al Jazeera on Googleinfo A Sri Lankan officer is seen in Colombo, Sri Lanka [File: AFP]By Al Jazeera Staff and AFPPublished On 9 May 20269 May 2026A prominent Buddhist monk has been arrested in Sri Lanka for allegedly sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl, in the highest-profile case involving a local religious leader.
Authorities took 71-year-old Pallegama Hemarathana into custody on Saturday from a private hospital in the capital, Colombo, where he had checked in for treatment as a criminal probe against him progressed.