Conviction Buddhist institutions and contexts Buddhist institutions and lineages Galenbindunuwewa, North Central Province, Sri Lanka · 2026

Sri Lanka: temple chief incumbent sentenced to 24 years for abusing a boy in his care

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

chief incumbent of a Buddhist temple, custodian of a child resident at the temple

Organization

Sri Seevali Chaityaramaya Vihara

Spiritual nexus

The victim was a child resident at the temple — a common arrangement for boys placed in monasteries for religious upbringing — which placed him under the direct custodial and monastic authority of the incumbent who ran it.

Guru or spiritual-teacher authority
Institutional obedience or isolation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2026-06-05 · conviction and sentence

Anuradhapura Special High Court for Child Crimes, Sri Lanka. Polgampola Dharmaloka, 40, chief incumbent of the Sri Seevali Chaityaramaya Vihara at Sivalakulama, Galenbindunuwewa, was sentenced in early June 2026 — in absentia, having repeatedly absconded during trial, with an open arrest warrant — to 24 years' rigorous imprisonment (two counts of twelve years) plus Rs 500,000 compensation for sexually abusing a ten-year-old boy entrusted to the temple for education (offences 1–24 May 2015).

Documented coercion mechanisms

monastic and custodial authority over a child living at the temple

Primary record

Sources

reliable contemporaneous court reporting verdict and sentencing report 'Head Monk Sentenced to 24 Years Rigorous Imprisonment for Child Sexual Abuse', Sri Lanka Brief.: Reports the conviction and 24-year sentence of the temple's chief incumbent for abusing a child resident.
national newspaper court reporting verdict report '4 jailed for total of 101 years over child sexual abuse', Sri Lanka Mirror.: Independent coverage pinning the court and in-absentia verdict.

Related record

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