10-year-old servant beaten and tortured to death after 'stealing fruit'

The boy's six-year-old brother was also seriously injured and is in critical condition as human rights activists in Pakistan demand that more is done to fight child exploitation< /p> A boy makes bricks at a factory in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad (

Image: AFP via Getty Images

A 10-year-old boy employed as a domestic worker in Pakistan has died after being beaten and tortured, police say.

The child, named Kamran, was pronounced dead shortly after being taken to hospital along with his six-year-old brother, Rizwan, who also suffered serious injuries. Rizwan remains in critical condition.

Police say the two children were tortured at their employers' home in an affluent area of ​​Lahore after they were caught stealing fruit.

Human rights activists are demanding action to tackle child exploitation in the country, fearing that deteriorating economic conditions will push more minors into such cruel working conditions.

A 2018 report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan found that 12 million child laborers in the country (

Picture:

AFP via Getty Images)

Doctors alerted the police when the two boys arrived at the hospital. Those who brought them there were arrested but the owners of the house fled, according to the .

The children are from Bahawalpur, a city in the province of Punjab. But police said they had worked at the home in the Defense Housing Authority neighborhood for more than a year.

Speaking to the Press Trust of India, human rights activist Sheryar Rizwan called the attacks "outrageous".

“The murderers of an innocent child should receive exemplary punishment,” he said. "The government must back up this case so that the culprits cannot walk away unscathed."

Child labor and young servants are bad...