Cardinal Oswald Gracias and two auxiliary bishops of Bombay archdiocese are facing charges of inaction over a child abuse case complaint against a priest. The cardinal and Bishops Dominic Savio Fernandes and John Rodrigues recently app-roached the Bombay High Court to get the case withdrawn.

The bench of justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre, who heard the plea on June 17, has posted the matter for hearing at a later date. According to the police, a minor boy was sodomized on November 27, 2015, by Father Lawrence Johnson, who was then his parish priest. Three days later, the boy’s parents filed a complaint at Shivaji Nagar police station that the priest had abused their child.

Cardinal Gracias told the high court that he did not inform the police about the alleged abuse because the boy’s parents had already informed them, who then registered a complaint.