In Pakistan, an eight-year-old Hindu boy faces the death penalty after being charged with blasphemy.
According to The Guardian, the child is accused of urinating on a carpet in a madrassa's library, where religious books were housed, in July.
Charges of blasphemy can carry the death penalty.
The boy's family is in hiding, and many Hindus in Punjab's conservative area of Rahim Yar Khan have abandoned their homes. Following the boy's release on bail last week, a Muslim mob stormed a Hindu temple.
Currently, 20 persons have been arrested in connection with the temple attack. An irate mob appeared to have attacked and vandalized the temple with iron bars and sticks last week, as seen on a video circulating on social media.
The Guardian claims to know the identity of the boy and his family, but they have chosen to keep it hidden.
Ramesh Kumar, a lawmaker and the head of the Pakistan Hindu Council, told the newspaper that the charges were unbelievable.
"The attack on the temple and blasphemy allegations against the eight-year-old minor boy has really shocked me," Kumar said. "More than a hundred homes of the Hindu community have been emptied due to fear of attack."
According to the report, blasphemy laws have been utilized disproportionately against religious minorities in Pakistan.
There have been no executions in the country since the death sentence for blasphemy was introduced in 1986, but suspects are frequently attacked, sometimes fatally, by mobs, according to the Guardian.
Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the mob attack and said he has directed the provincial police head to take action against anyone involved. He also pledged that the government would repair the temple.
The news comes nearly 10 years after a 14-year-old Christian girl was charged with blasphemy after allegedly burning pages of the Koran. She was eventually released on bail in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near Islamabad.
A report published last year by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom stated that Pakistan had the largest number of incidences of mob activity, mob violence, and/or threats of mob violence as a result of alleged blasphemous conduct.
