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.Authorities said the victim’s mother has also been arrested for aiding and abetting the monk.
“We will be guided by the magistrate on further action,” a police statement said Saturday.
Hemarathana, who had been subject to a foreign travel ban, was detained on the orders of the chief magistrate in Anuradhapura, after child protection authorities cited complaints of delays in his arrest, reported Sri Lanka’s Daily News. It said the court instructed police to arrest Hemarathana and bring him before the court “without delay”.
In addition to his position in Colombo, the monk is the chief of eight highly venerated temples that are on a key Buddhist pilgrimage route. He is also the chief custodian of a tree believed to have been grown from a sapling of the Bodhi tree in India that sheltered the Buddha when he attained enlightenment more than 2,500 years ago.
There have been several cases of clergy abusing children in Sri Lanka, but the latest arrest involves the most senior monk to be accused of such a crime.
Last month, 22 monks were arrested at Colombo’s international airport after 110kg (242lbs) of cannabis were found hidden in their bags, in what was the biggest drug smuggling discovery ever in the facility.
He was taken into custody on Friday night after a magistrate's court in the holy city of Anuradhapura issued an arrest warrant against him and the victim's mother for allegedly aiding and abetting child abuse.
The victim who is now 15 years old, according to the police, was allegedly abused on the premises of a temple in Anuradhapura, police spokesperson FT Wootler told reporters.
A complaint about the incident was registered in March. It was initially about abduction and detention of a minor, reported the Daily Mirror media portal.When a probe was initiated, the investigators found out more.
Hemarathana was arrested from the emergency unit of a private hospital in capital city Colombo - around 200 km from Anuradhapura - where he was undergoing some treatment, police said.
The mother has also been arrested, police said.
Hemarathana is the top Buddhist monk from Atamasthana, a group of sacred shrines, located in the ancient city of Anuradhapura. These sites are visited by large numbers of Buddhist pilgrims annually.