New Delhi, May 7, 2010: The Catholic Church has recommended a zero-tolerance policy on sexual abuse complaints against priests in India.

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI), the apex body of the Catholic Church in the country, is currently drawing up guidelines to tackle the sexual abuse by priests that has captured the international spotlight.

During a recent plenary meeting, the senior bishops reportedly agreed to inform incidents of sexual abuse to the police, and defrock and expel priests found guilty of abuse.

"The Catholic Church will take extreme measures and will not hesitate to act on allegations of sexual abuse made against any priest," Karakombil told the Associated Press. "We will have zero tolerance with regard to abuse of children in institutions run by the Church."

The new guidelines will be in place by June after discussions in dioceses across India.

Karakombil said that under the proposed guidelines, Church authorities would report all suspected cases of sexual abuse to police and the accused would face charges in court.

Apart from this, the Church would also take action against the accused.

"The guidelines take into account the best interests of children in all Church-run institutions to protect them from not just clergy, but all those working in these institutions," Karakombil was quoted saying.

The decision has come in the wake of a series of child abuse scandals involving the Catholic Church in the US, the Irish Republic, Germany and Norway.

It also follows a high-profile case in which an Indian priest has been accused of sexual abuse when he worked in the United States.

The accused Rev. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul allegedly abused a teenage girl while working in Crookston diocese in the US. (by Babu Thomas, Christian Today)