Chief incumbent of Atamasthana Pallegama Hemarathana Thera was arrested at Nawaloka Hospital in Colombo last night (08) over an accusation that he had sexually-abused a 15-year-old girl, said police media spokesman F.U. Wootler.
The suspect will be produced before court today, said the ASP.
The girl’s mother, also got arrested and was produced before courts and remanded until 15 May on a charge of aiding and abetting the crime and selling the girl for money.
The Anuradhapura chief magistrate ordered children and women’s bureau of the police to arrest the monk and the girl’s mother and imposed a foreign travel ban on them.
The National Child Protection Authority said it directly got involved in the investigation after fiding a shortcoming in law enforcement on the part of the police.
A NCPA team led by its chairperson, deputy chairman and the head of law enforcement was in Anuradhapura yesterday and based on their inquiry submissions, the court ordered the monk’s arrest.
An investigator at the Authority said on condition of anonymity that various parties tried to cover up the incident by using the political and religious influence the monk was enjoying.
The girl in question, arrested along with a youth at a lodge in Gampaha, told police she was sexually abused first by Hemarathana Thera with her parents’ getting money for that.
Despite a previous order for his arrest, a team led by a SP only recorded a statement from the suspect monk.
When asked about the delay in the arrest, ASP Wootler said arrests could not be made without evidence.
However, legal experts are of the view that his remark was misleading, because the police have extensive decision-making powers to deal with incidents of child abuse, sexual or otherwise.
The JMO at Gampaha Hospital decided upon examining the girl that she had been sexually-abused.