An eight-year-old Hindu boy faces the death penalty in Pakistan after becoming the youngest person ever charged with blasphemy in the country, The Guardian reports.
The boy is accused of intentionally urinating on a carpet in the library of a madrassa, where religious books were kept, last month. Blasphemy charges can carry the death penalty.
After a court granted the child bail, a Muslim mob attacked and badly damaged a Hindu temple in the conservative town of Bhong in the Rahim Yar Khan district, Punjab. As a result, the boy and his family are now being held in protective custody.
“We have left our shops and work, the entire community is scared and we fear backlash,” a family member told the Guardian. “We don’t want to return to this area. We don’t see any concrete and meaningful action will be taken against the culprits or to safeguard the minorities living here.”
Ramesh Kumar, a lawmaker and head of the Pakistan Hindu Council, told the newspaper that he couldn’t believe the allegations.
“The attack on the temple and blasphemy allegations against the eight-year-old minor boy has really shocked me,” he said. “More than a hundred homes of the Hindu community have been emptied due to fear of attack.”
Meanwhile, human rights activist Kapil Dev said: ‘I demand charges against the boy are immediately dropped, and urge the government to provide security for the family and those forced to flee.”
The news arrives nearly 10 years after a 14-year-old Christian girl was charged with blasphemy after being accused of burning pages of the Koran. She was later released on bail in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near Islamabad, Pakistan.
