Panaji, Aug 2 (IANS) A trial court here Tuesday allowed Goa Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao two weeks to move the Bombay High Court to challenge a summons in a 2004 case of criminal trespass and intimidation.
Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Sarika Faldesai allowed the archbishop, the head of the Catholic Church in Goa, to file by Aug 16 an appeal against the summons issued by the lower court after his counsel said he had prior fixed appointments.
Ferrao is one of the 10 witnesses to be examined in connection with a 2004 case, in which a local priest, Fr Newton Rodrigues, accused 14 people of trespassing into the Ribandar Church corridor.
Protests had occurred after Newton Rodrigues was booked for molesting a 13-year-old girl, a charge from which the priest was subsequently acquitted.
