An eight-year-old boy who is accused of urinating in an Islamic seminary in the Punjab province of Pakistan is in hiding with his family after his alleged desecration caused violent unrest
Image: REUTERS)
An eight-year-old boy accused of urinating in an Islamic library faces the death penalty in Pakistan as he has become the youngest person to be charged with blasphemy.
The boy is accused of intentionally desecrating a seminary in the Punjab town of Bhong by urinating in its library – despite him “not being aware of such blasphemy issues”, his family said.
His family has now gone into hiding while many from his Hindu community in the district of Rahim Yar Khan have fled after a Muslim crowd reportedly retaliated by attacking a Hindu temple, the Guardian reports.
The boy was held in jail for a week after a cleric at the seminary told police he found a young Hindu boy in the building urinating on the ground on July 24.
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Police registered the case as blasphemy, which in Pakistan is punishable with death penalty.
It sparked massive unrest in the Punjab town as a Muslim crowd reportedly sought revenge by ransacking and setting alight a Hindu temple after learning of the allegations through social media on Wednesday, Ramesh Vankwani, a parliament member and head of the Pakistan Hindu Council, said on Twitter.
The paramilitary had to be deployed to stop the mob, culminating in 20 people being arrested.
They are now reportedly investigating whether the eight-year-old, who has since been released on bail, was from the local Hindu community.
A member of the boy’s family told the Guardian: “He [the boy] is not even aware of such blasphemy issues and he has been falsely indulged in these matters. He still doesn’t understand what his crime was and why he was kept in jail for a week.
“We have left our shops and work, the entire community is scared and we fear backlash. 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.”
Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan, and although no executions have been carried out, suspects are often killed by vigilantes.
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Explaining how the unrest unraveled, Vankwani said police had had details of the alleged desecration deleted from social media but a crowd nonetheless gathered near the temple.
“Finally seeing the mob, even the police left, and I asked for (paramilitary) Rangers or the army to deploy, but by then the temple was destroyed and set on fire.”
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Vankwani shared videos showing hundreds of people heading for the single-story temple building. Dozens of men can be seen using sticks and iron beams to damage idols within the temple.
News agency Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the videos.
Temples belonging to the minority Hindu population in Pakistan are often the target of mob violence.
In December 2020, a large mob destroyed a century old Hindu temple in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Pakistan ranked the highest globally in incidents of mob violence and criminal charges against those accused of blasphemy, according to a May report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, which surveyed incidents between 2014 and 2018.
