Sri Lanka's Buddhist hierarchy has suspended a senior monk, Pallegama Hemarathana (71), after he was accused of sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl at the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi temple in Anuradhapura (a sacred site roughly 200km north of Colombo, housing a Ficus tree revered by Buddhists as a descendant of the tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment) in 2022. Hemarathana, who served as the chief custodian of the venerated tree, was arrested on 9 May and has since been released on bail, with a travel ban imposed while legal proceedings continue. The case is the most high-profile of its kind in the religiously conservative country, and the suspension — announced on Vesak, the Buddhist holy day marking the Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and death — marks a rare instance of formal disciplinary action by the faith's leadership.