8-year-old boy urinating in madrasah faces death penalty for blasphemy

The 8-year-old Indian is the youngest person ever to face a blasphemy charge in Pakistan, according to The Guardian. The child was accused of deliberately urinating in the library of a madrasah in the village of Bhong, where religious books are kept. After the boy was released on bail, radical members of the local Muslim community attacked a Hindu temple. To prevent riots, the authorities brought troops into the area, 20 attackers were arrested.

The name of the boy and his family is hidden for safety reasons. As his relatives said, the child is unable to realize what blasphemy is, and urinated on the carpet at someone else's instigation. For what he was kept in prison for a week and what he is accused of, the boy still does not understand. The entire Hindu minority of Punjab is terrified, some have abandoned their homes and fled the province. The area where the minority lives is protected by the police.

The death penalty has never been used since the death penalty was introduced in Pakistan for blasphemy in 1986, but those charged with the crime have been repeatedly attacked by angry mobs. Charging an 8-year-old child is an unprecedented step, children have never been charged under this heading before. This is another evidence of the growth of religious intolerance in Pakistan, which is increasingly spilling over into the pogroms of Hindu temples. Last December, for example, a crowd of conservative Muslims destroyed a century-old Hindu temple in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.