New Delhi: Abducted and sold at a young age to work at a construction site, 13-year-old Rakesh never thought he would one day represent India at an international event.

A proud Rakesh (who uses only his first name) doesn't want to remember the days when he was beaten up with belts and used to work for more than 18 hours a day at a construction site in Amritsar. He prefers to talk about his achievements instead.

"Those were the dark days. I shudder whenever I think about my past. Now I have something to look forward to in life," Rakesh, who now lives in Rajasthan but was in Delhi for a function, told IANS.

For the past two years, he has been a jury member of the World Children's Prize For the Rights of the Child presented in Sweden in April.

Narrating his horror story, Rakesh, a native of Ghana in Bihar, said he was kidnapped by his neighbour when he was six and was sold to an agent in Amritsar. The boy worked as a child labourer without any wages.

"I was not paid and there were days when I had nothing to eat. There was no shelter. I had to work from dawn to dusk," he said.