A Buddhist monastic council has urged Sri Lanka’s prison chief not to strip Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera of his robe during his prison term.
The Kotte Sri Kalyani Samagri Dharma Maha Sangha Sabha made the appeal in a letter dated October 6, 2026, addressed to the Commissioner-General of Prisons at Prison Headquarters in Colombo.
Court appearance in prison attire
Prison officials produced Ven. Gnanasara Thera before the Colombo High Court today (06) under a warrant issued by the court in connection with the case against him.
The monk, who is accused of insulting Islam, wore prison attire after his robe was removed.
The case came up before Colombo High Court Judge Buddhika C. Ragala.
After hearing the submissions made before the court, the judge ordered that the case be recalled on October 23.
The Sangha Sabha’s position
Ven. Dr Kotapitiye Rahula, Anu Nayaka Thera of the Maha Vihara Vamshika Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Sri Kalyani Samagri Dharma Maha Sangha Sabha, signed the letter from the Rajamaha Vihara in Kotte.
Copies were also sent to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and to the Commissioner-General of Buddhist Affairs at the Ministry of Buddhasasana.
The letter states that the Sangha Sabha has no objection to the court judgment concerning Gnanasara Thera and fully accepts the supremacy of the judiciary.
Ven. Rahula Thera said the intervention concerned only reports that the monk might be disrobed in prison.
The letter noted that full authority over the wearing and removal of a monk’s robe rests with the fully ordained monk and the Maha Sangha Sabha to which he belongs.
It adds that under the procedure currently followed in Sri Lanka, the removal of a robe as an ecclesiastical act must take place with the approval of the Mahanayaka Thera of the relevant Nikaya or Maha Sangha Sabha.
The letter says that no information has been reported to the Sangha Sabha showing that Gnanasara Thera committed a parajika offence under the Vinaya Pitaka, or that any other grave reason exists to justify disrobing him.
As such, Ven. Rahula Thera said that any disciplinary examination on ecclesiastical grounds, and any decision on whether he should be disrobed or keep his robe, is a matter for the Sangha Sabha.
The letter draws a clear line between the authority of the courts to impose a judicial sentence and the authority the Sangha Sabha claims over the monk’s ecclesiastical status.
It says allowing Gnanasara Thera to retain his robe and wear it whenever he is taken outside the prison would accord with an established monastic and spiritual tradition.
The Sangha Sabha says that ignoring this practice could set an inappropriate precedent for the Buddhist monastic order.
It also holds that imprisonment alone does not pass ecclesiastical authority over a monk’s robe to prison officials.
The letter closes with a request that prison authorities refrain from removing the robe and allow the monk to appear, inside and outside the prison, in the robes prescribed for him.