Seelarathana Thero Arrested For Sexually Assaulting A Monk? Here’s The Truth Behind Viral Video

A TikTok video is going viral, claiming that Battaramulle Seelarathana Thero has been arrested for sexually abusing as well as aiding and abetting others to sexually assault a monk at a Buddhist temple in Payagala, Kalutara. Seelarathana Thero, a monk, is infamous for his controversial opinions and also leads a political party, the Jana Satha Peramuna. 

The TikTok purportedly shows footage from an Ada Derana Sinhala news segment showing a monk masking his face with a cloth alongside several civilians who are being escorted by the police at a court complex. The TikTok shows a photo of Seelarathana Thero next to the video, with the following words in Sinhala: “පොඩි සාධුට හදි කළ ලොකු සාධුලා; පොඩි සාදුට අතවර කළ සීලරතන හාමුදුරුවන් රිමාන්ඩ්!,” which translates to: “The adult monks who harassed the novice monks; Seelarathana Thero who sexually assaulted a novice monk remanded!”

Evidence

1. We first conducted a keyword search of the words “Seelarathana Thero”, “sexual assault”, “novice monk”, “Payagala, Kalutara”, and “temple”. We could not find any instances in which Seelarathana Thero had been accused of sexual assault of a novice monk in Payagala, Kalutara as the TikTok claims. 

2. We then did a reverse image search of keyframes from the video footage from the Ada Derana news programme. We found out that on May 11, 2023 at a temple in Payagala, Kalutara, a group of monks were arrested for sexually assaulting an underage, novice monk, and that Ada Derana had reported on the matter on their news, along with other news channels, on May 12, 2023. One such video is here:

Even though the video footage matches that of the TikTok, this news has no connection to Seelarathana Thero. 

3. We also found that the news websites Dasatha Lanka News and rata.lk had also reported on the matter. They also do not show any connection to Seelarathana Thero. 

4. These reports and the original video mention that the head monk of the Payagala temple was arrested with two other monks of the same temple. According to this Lankadeepa article, Seelarathana Thero has no connection to this temple and has been associated with the Attanagalla Raja Maha Viharaya. 

As such, we were able to conclude that this TikTok is false and that the original news item is related to a different monk, not Seelarathana Thero. 

Context

Sri Lanka is a country that primarily practices Theravada Buddhism, and in the past few decades many monks have been accused of and arrested for sexually assaulting women, minors, and novice monks. News reports of such instances can be found here, here, and here. In addition, some monks like Seelarathana Thero are also controversial due to their unpopular opinions against different governments.

Verdict

The TikTok claiming that Battaramulle Seelarathana Thero has been arrested for sexually abusing as well as aiding and abetting others to sexually assault a novice monk at a Buddhist temple in Payagala, Kalutara is false. The incident shown in the TikTok is from May 2023 and has no connection to Seelarathana Thero.

FAQs 

Q1. What does the TikTok show?
A news video of a monk and several civilians being escorted by the police in a court complex along with a photo of Seelarathana Thero

Q2. When was the TikTok posted and when did the actual incident in the TikTok take place? 
April 27, 2026 and May 12, 2023, respectively. 

Q3. Who was arrested for the crime of sexually assaulting a novice monk as mentioned in this video? 
The then head monk of the Payagala, Kalutara temple

Our Sources

‘කළුතර පයාගල සාමනේර නමකට හදි කළ විහාරාධිපතිට වැඩ වරදී’, The Life Traveler YouTube channel, May 11, 2023 
‘සාමනේර හිමි අපයෝජනය කළ විහාරාධිපති සහ ස්වාමින් වහන්සේලා රිමාන්ඩ්’, Dasatha Lanka News, May 12, 2023
‘පොඩිනමට අතවර කළ, විහාරාධිපති හිමිත්, ගෝල හිමිවරු දෙදෙනාත් අත්අඩංගුවට’, rata.lk, May 12, 2023
‘බත්තරමුල්ලේ සීලරතන හිමි’, Lankadeepa, November 13, 2019