Kandy Police have arrested a 25-year-old monk attached to a temple in Bahirawakanda over the alleged sexual abuse of his 15-year-old niece, with a 29-year-old woman from the same area also held on aiding-and-abetting charges, Newswire reported.
According to the Police statement, the suspect — identified as the brother of the girl’s father — was taken into custody on May 20 after investigations into the complaint. The 29-year-old woman was arrested the same day on suspicion of aiding the offence.
Both suspects were produced before the Kandy Magistrate’s Court on May 21. The monk has been remanded until June 1, when his remand was due for review, while the female suspect was released on two sureties of Rs. 200,000 each. The Kandy Police is conducting further investigations.
The arrest extends a string of high-profile child-abuse and disciplinary cases linked to sections of the Buddhist clergy that have prompted a government legislative response. Last week the Anuradhapura Special High Court for Child Abuse sentenced a temple chief monk to 30 years’ rigorous imprisonment over the abuse of a 14-year-old boy; the Court of Appeal in the same week upheld a 10-year sentence against the monk in the Balapitiya child-abuse case; and the Anuradhapura Atamasthanadhipathi faced a separate arrest order in an abuse case earlier in May.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on May 27 pledged to amend the colonial-era Vihara and Devalagam Act and revive a monastic disciplinary body, citing the run of incidents involving members of the clergy. The Bahirawakanda complex, dominated by the seated Buddha statue overlooking Kandy, is one of the most visited religious sites in the city.
Sources: Monk arrested over sexual abuse of a 15-year-old girl — Newswire.
