How Sri Lanka's Most Powerful Buddhist Monk Was Arrested — and Released — on Child Rape Charges
ANURADHAPURA, Sri Lanka — She was eleven years old, by her own account, when her mother first brought her to the private residential quarters inside one of the holiest Buddhist precincts in the world.
She was fourteen when she told police what happened there.
The man she named is Pallegama Hemarathana Thero, 71, the Atamasthanadhipathi — Chief Prelate and Custodian of the Eight Sacred Sites of Anuradhapura, and the senior-most administrative authority over the Sri Maha Bodhi: the sacred fig tree venerated as the oldest living tree documented in recorded human history, a cutting grown from the tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment more than 2,500 years ago.
He has, through a team of approximately twenty lawyers led by President's Counsel Kalinga Indatissa, denied every allegation. As of May 22, 2026, he is a free man on bail.
The Disclosure
On March 6, 2026, a complaint was lodged at Nittambuwa Police in Gampaha district alleging that a minor girl had been abducted and unlawfully detained. Officers arrested an initial suspect. The girl was placed in a state care centre in Ragama.
On or around April 27, police located her at a lodge in the Nittambuwa police division, where she was staying with a male companion. That man was arrested. When investigators from the Gampaha Division Police Children and Women's Bureau questioned the girl, she described years of sexual abuse.
She identified her primary abuser as a chief incumbent in Anuradhapura.
She was produced before the Judicial Medical Officer at Gampaha General Hospital. The JMO's examination, according to submissions later made to the Anuradhapura Chief Magistrate's Court, found evidence of repeated sexual abuse extending over a significant period, in both the recent and more distant past.
Police also recorded statements from three-wheeler drivers and other witnesses connected to the girl's alleged movements to and from the temple complex.
On May 2, investigators travelled to Anuradhapura and recorded a statement from Hemarathana Thero. The session lasted more than three hours. A crime-scene inspection was conducted inside the Atamasthana compound. According to police submissions, the girl had subsequently been brought to the site to walk through it with investigators. She had not needed to be guided. From the VIP parking lot near the final gate, she walked directly into the residential quarters. She pointed out a room. She identified a bed.
By May 4, the case was formally constituted before the Anuradhapura Chief Magistrate's Court as Case No. 22424/2026-B, with a B-report filed under Sections 364(2) and 365(b)(2)(b) of the Penal Code — rape of a minor and grave sexual abuse of a minor. The court issued orders that blood-stained clothing, allegedly belonging to the girl and recovered from where it had been buried near her home, be sent to the Government Analyst for forensic examination. Police were also granted court permission to record the victim's testimony on video through the National Child Protection Authority.
Twenty-Eight Days
Between the girl's disclosure in late April and Hemarathana Thero's arrest on May 8, twenty-eight days passed.
During that period, no travel ban was imposed on the named suspect. At some point in those weeks, a team of Nittambuwa officers travelled to Anuradhapura. They surrounded the temple complex where Hemarathana Thero resided.
They left without arresting him.
Sri Lanka Police have offered no public explanation for why.
The National Child Protection Authority says it contacted police repeatedly during this period — in writing and by telephone — asking why no arrest had been made. The NCPA's Director of Law Enforcement, Attorney-at-Law Sajeevani Abeykoon, told the Anuradhapura Chief Magistrate on May 8 that the authority had made multiple written and verbal requests to police. She questioned the delay explicitly, on the record.
On May 8, NCPA Director Abeykoon and Assistant Director Hansi Halangoda appeared before Chief Magistrate Siyapath Sasindu Wickramarathne, acting on the direct instructions of NCPA Chairperson and retired High Court Judge Inoka Ranasinghe. A hearing was held in the magistrate's chambers. The magistrate ordered police to arrest both Hemarathana Thero and the girl's mother without delay. He imposed a foreign travel ban and directed the Controller General of Immigration and Emigration to prevent the monk from leaving the country.
At approximately 11:45 p.m. that evening, Nittambuwa Police arrested Pallegama Hemarathana Thero at the emergency treatment unit of Nawaloka Hospital, a private medical facility in Colombo, where he had sought treatment.
The girl's mother was arrested the same day and remanded until May 15 on charges of human trafficking under Section 360(c)(1)(a) of the Penal Code, and aiding and abetting the alleged offences. Police submissions to the court stated that the mother received 100,000 rupees in exchange for bringing the girl to the monk.
The Man and His Office
Pallegama Hemarathana Thero was born Karandagolla Walawwe Nandaseena on June 25, 1954, in Pallegama, Dambulla. He arrived at the Ruwanweliseya Maha Vihara in Anuradhapura at the age of fourteen, was ordained in 1968, and spent subsequent decades ascending the hierarchy of Sri Lanka's Theravada Buddhist establishment. He became Chief Incumbent of Jethavanaramaya in 1989, Chief Sanghanayaka of Nuwara Kalaviya, and Chief Incumbent of the Ruwanweliseya Chaitya in 1997.
In 2022 — the same year the girl says her abuse began — he was appointed Atamasthanadhipathi upon the unanimous decision of the Atamasthana Executive Council.
The position carries both spiritual authority and formal legal-administrative power over the most significant Buddhist heritage precincts in Sri Lanka. The Sri Maha Bodhi falls under the direct custody of the Atamasthanadhipathi's office. Its statutory functions, established under Sri Lankan temple ordinances, give the holder formal authority over the sacred compound's administration and access.
Earlier this year, before his arrest, Hemarathana met the fourteenth Dalai Lama. He had also received heads of state, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. For decades, politicians from nearly every major party had sought and publicised his blessings during election campaigns. Sri Lanka's Inspector General of Police had been photographed paying a ceremonial visit to the Atamasthana on Police Day.
A Different Custody
After his arrest at Nawaloka Private Hospital on the night of May 8, a Colombo additional magistrate visited the hospital, issued a remand order to May 12, and directed the accused's transfer to the Colombo National Hospital as medically appropriate for a person in state custody.
When the case came before the Anuradhapura Chief Magistrate on May 12, a procedural failure emerged. The Colombo remand order had not been formally communicated to the Anuradhapura court, and the suspect had not been physically produced. The Chief Magistrate said he lacked the legal authority to extend remand under those circumstances.
On May 13, Colombo Fort Magistrate Pasan Amarasena visited the hospital, issued a fresh remand order to May 22, and reordered the transfer from Nawaloka to the National Hospital. Prison authorities had argued the suspect was not fit for long-distance transport and required several specialised medical examinations. The transfer — first ordered May 9, reordered May 13 — was executed on May 14: five days and two court orders after the initial direction.
At the May 15 hearing, police informed the court that investigations were complete and extracts had been forwarded to the Attorney General for legal advice. The charges were specified: Section 365(B)(2)(b), grave sexual abuse of a minor, and Section 364(2)(e), rape of a minor. The court called for a JMO report on the accused's fitness to appear in proceedings. The mother's bail application was refused. The accused was ordered produced on May 22.
President's Counsel Indatissa told the court on May 15 that no bail application would be made on his client's behalf that day, requesting instead that police be directed to expedite their investigation.
On May 19, the Chief Magistrate issued orders to every state and private bank in Sri Lanka to furnish records of accounts held by the girl's mother, and to every telecommunications company to submit details of calls made on mobile phones used by both the girl and the monk.
On May 21, the accused was transferred from the National Hospital to the prison hospital.
The Bail Hearing
On May 22, Hemarathana Thero was produced before the Anuradhapura Chief Magistrate’s Court. A team of around twenty lawyers, including President’s Counsel Kalinga Indatissa, appeared for the accused. Three lawyers — Attorneys-at-Law Swarnamali Anuradhanayaka, Asith Siriwardene, and Athula Ranagala — appeared on behalf of the victim.
Several senior Buddhist monks, including the Chief Incumbent of the Ruwanwelisaya, Venerable Eethalawetunawewe Gnanatileka Thero — who is also the Chancellor of Rajarata University of Sri Lanka — were present in court to observe the proceedings.
Police had stepped up security across the court premises and surrounding areas.
The monk was granted bail on two personal sureties of five million rupees each and a cash bail of 100,000 rupees. Chief Magistrate Siyapath Sasindu Wickramarathne imposed a foreign travel ban and warned that any attempt to influence witnesses would result in the immediate revocation of bail. The girl's mother was released on two personal sureties of 500,000 rupees each, with a foreign travel ban also imposed on her.
President's Counsel Indatissa, appearing for the monk, refuted the allegations of rape and told the court his client had cooperated fully with investigators. He also denied, on the record, allegations that the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security had interfered with the investigation.
NCPA Director of Law Enforcement Sajeevani Abeykoon told the court that the monk and the girl had 84 recorded telephone conversations between them. She stated that the NCPA had been compelled to push police to arrest the suspect despite strong evidence, including the victim's statement, and that the case would have remained buried had the girl not come to light when she was found in the company of her companion.
The state's prosecution interest was represented by Headquarters Chief Police Inspector P.M. Anura Gunawardena of Nittambuwa Police, HQI R.M. Jayaweera of Anuradhapura Police, and Sub-Inspector Dayananda of the Women and Children's Bureau, Anuradhapura.
The monk walked out of court.
A Pattern of Cases
Research covering roughly a decade found that nearly 110 Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka had faced charges related to sexual or physical abuse of minors. Historical data from the National Child Protection Authority also indicated that only three Buddhist monks had been convicted for child abuse in recent history.
One of those convictions offers a documented precedent. In 2005, monk Bellana Panniyaloka was convicted of grave sexual abuse of a 13-year-old girl and sentenced to the maximum twenty-year term. Immediately after sentencing, he drank insecticide concealed in his robes, collapsed in the courtroom, and died.
Former Jathika Hela Urumaya Member of Parliament Aparekke Punnananda Thero, admitted in 2011 to sexually abusing five underage novice monks, appeared before Colombo Magistrate's Court.
In the same weeks as Hemarathana's arrest in May 2026, twenty-two Buddhist monks were arrested at Bandaranaike International Airport after police alleged they had attempted to smuggle more than 110 kilograms of cannabis and hashish concealed in luggage — described by investigators as the largest narcotics detection involving clergy in the airport's history.
The Child Protection Alliance has formally written to the Ministry of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs, charging that the ministry had not taken steps to hold institutions accountable for failing to protect children.
What Remains
The investigation file has been forwarded to the Attorney General's Department, which will determine whether to indict Hemarathana Thero and the co-accused for trial before the High Court.
DNA analysis of the blood-stained clothing has not been returned. Bank records from state and private institutions and telecommunications data — including, according to NCPA submissions to the court, records of 84 telephone calls between the monk and the girl — had been received by investigators and were before the court at the time bail was granted.
The monk is at an undisclosed location, on bail.
The girl is fourteen. She is in a state protection centre. Her mother is charged with trafficking her.
Whether the Attorney General ultimately indicts Venerable Pallegama Hemarathana — “Golden Jewel” in Pali — or not, the case has already left behind a troubling public record: one marked by delays, procedural lapses, and institutional accommodations that even Sri Lanka’s own child protection authorities felt compelled to place before a court. Whatever verdict eventually follows, that record is likely to endure far longer.
