Young men arrested in Sri Lanka for posing with bare backsides at sacred Buddhist site

Trio were amongst a group of men who posted semi-naked snaps of themselves taken at Pidurangala Rock

thabhas instagram (Instagram )

Three men who bared their bottoms as they posed for pictures at a sacred Buddhist site in Sri Lanka have been arrested.

According to the BBC, the trio were amongst a group of men who posted semi-naked snaps of themselves taken at Pidurangala Rock on Facebook.

The actions of the young Sri Lankan nationals prompted backlash from members of the online community, who branded the images an insult to the religion.

Pidurangala Rock is within walking distance of the ancient Sigiriya rock fortress, a Unesco World Heritage site often referred to as the eighth wonder of the world.

Sri Lankan police arrested the men after a Buddhist monk logged an official complaint about the images.

The country’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe personally ordered police to investigate the matter, the county’s Daily Mirror newspaper reported.

However, the arrests have drawn a mixed reaction on social media. While some people praised the force for taking action, others insisted that their priorities were misplaced

"When our children are being raped and women being abused, Sri Lankan police do nothing. They only seem to act on nonsensical non-issues like this," a Facebook user said.

Locals also questioned why only “brown bottoms” were being punished while foreigners who posted similar images were not arrested..

The men may have been inspired by the Cheeky Exploits Instagram page, which encourages people to expose themselves at famous locations around the world.

This is the latest episode of semi-nude pictures at sacred religious sites prompting outrage.

Last year, Playboy model Jaylene Cook was criticised for being culturally insensitive after posing nude at New Zealand's Mount Taranaki, which indigenous tribe Māori regard as a living ancestor.

In 2015, a group of tourists were blamed for causing a deadly 5.9 magnitude earthquake after climbing Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia and posing naked. Briton Eleanor Hawkins, Canadians Lindsey and Danielle Peterson, and Dutchman Dylan Snel were given jail terms and fined after admitting they had disrespected the mountain gods and caused a public disturbance.