The boy's family is in hiding and many of the Hindu community in the conservative district of Rahim Yar Khan, in Punjab, have fled their homes after a Muslim crowd attacked a Hindu temple after the boy's release on bail last week. Troops were deployed to the area to quell any further unrest.

On Saturday, 20 people were arrested in connection with the temple attack.

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.

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The couple were on death row for seven years after a lower court convicted them of sending blasphemous text messages.

Weeks after overturning the session court's death sentence for the couple, Shagufta Masih and her husband, Shafqat Emmanuel, the high court released the judgment last week, expressing displeasure over the conduct of the trial, The News International reported.

The Catholic couple was arrested in July 2013 under Pakistan's blasphemy laws and the session court sentenced them to death by hanging in 2014.

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Rimsha Masih is the first minor to be charged with blasphemy in Pakistan. The charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Witnesses claim she burnt 10 pages of a booklet used to learn basic Arabic and the Qur'an.

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