Over 40 individuals have been arrested for their alleged involvement in an attack on a Hindu temple and for blocking the motorway in Rahim Yar Khan.
According to the police, 38 of the detained persons were presented before an anti-terrorism court in Bahawalpur.
Following their appearance in court, the suspects were sent to jail for an identity parade.
Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed had a day earlier reprimanded the Punjab police chief for failing to take action to safeguard the Hindu temple from the mob in Rahim Yar Khan, directing him to arrest all culprits involved in the incident.
The CJP also ordered the concerned authorities to charge the culprits for the expenses that will be incurred in rebuilding the temple. Prime Minister Imran Khan had also taken notice of the incident and ordered action against those responsible for the unrest and vandalism of the Hindu temple.
On Thursday, hundreds of people vandalised a Hindu temple in Bhong town in Sadiqabad and blocked the Sukkur-Multan Motorway (M-5) after a nine-year old Hindu boy, who allegedly urinated in a local seminary, was granted bail by a local court last week, on Wednesday.
Responding to the situation late in the evening, the district administration deployed rangers in the area after Deputy Commissioner Dr Khuram Shehzad and District Police Officer Asad Sarfraz visited the town.
Sources said on the complaint of a cleric, Hafiz Muhammad Ibrahim, of Darul Uloom Arabia Taleemul Quran, the Bhong police had registered a case against the Hindu boy under Section 295-A of the Pakistan Penal Code on July 24.
They said some Hindu elders did tender an apology to the seminary administration saying the accused was a minor and mentally challenged. But, when a lower court granted him bail a few days ago, some people incited the public in the town on Wednesday and got all shops there closed in protest.
A video clip viral on social media showed charged people wielding clubs and rods storming the temple and smashing its glass doors, windows, lights and damaging the ceiling fans.
Later, the protesters also blocked the M-5 motorway for more than three hours.
A small town close to the River Indus and Sindh-Punjab border, Bhong houses a number of gold traders who originally hail from Ghotki and Dehrki (Sindh).
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