Prominent Buddhist monk arrested over alleged sex abuse

Sri Lankan authorities arrested a senior Buddhist monk on Saturday for the alleged sexual abuse of an underage girl, police said, marking the highest-profile case involving clergy in the country. Pallegama Hemarathana, 71, was arrested at a private hospital in the capital Colombo where he had sought treatment over the weekend amid an investigation into the alleged abuse of the 11-year-old girl in 2022. The crime is alleged to have taken place at a highly venerated temple in Anuradhapura, around 125 miles north of Colombo, where Hemarathana is the chief priest. The ancient city is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site . "We will be guided by the magistrate on further action," a police statement said Saturday. The monk will soon be presented before a judge. Authorities added that the victim's mother has also been arrested for aiding and abetting the monk. The development comes a day after a local court in Anuradhapura imposed a foreign travel ban on the monk. He has not publicly commented on the charges and is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, the BBC reported . 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. The 71-year-old is 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. …