13-year-old boy has 'hand cut off after asking boss for his salary'

Teenager in critical condition in hospital as police investigate

A boy pulls a buffalo for sale at a makeshift cattle market ahead of the Eid al-Adha festival in Peshawar, Pakistan, September 9, 2016 (REUTERS)

A 13-year-old boy had his hand amputated for demanding he be paid his wages, it has been claimed.

The boy, identified Irfan, was reportedly mutilated by a woman he worked for when he asked to be paid his salary of 3,000 rupees (£36) for feeding cows.

According to NDTV, the teen's employer in Sheikhupura, some 50km (31 miles) outside Lahore, the capital of Pakistani Punjab, severed his right hand using a food-cutting machine.

The boy's mother told the site: "She cut his right hand with a fodder cutting machine to teach him a lesson that he demands salary but doesn't complete his job of feeding the cattle."

NDTV said Irfan was in critical condition in hospital.

Police are investigating and Punjab's chief minister, Shehbaz Sharif, the brother of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has reportedly asked to see their report.

According to data from the US Department of Labour, three-quarters of 10- to 14-year-olds at work in Pakistan are employed in agriculture.

Across the country, the department's Bureau of International Labour Affairs said, "children in Pakistan are engaged in the worst forms of child labour, including in forced domestic work and bonded labour in brick kilns".

It added: "Three provincial governments have not established a minimum working age, and the federal minimum age for hazardous work falls short of international standards. Provincial governments do not have the resources necessary to enforce laws prohibiting child labour, including its worst forms."