India approves death penalty for child rapists

India approved the death penalty for child rapists on Saturday following the case of a gang-rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl prompting country-wide outrage.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called a cabinet meeting to pass the measure on his return from the Commonwealth summit.

Protests broke out across the country in recent days after a young Muslim girl was raped and killed by a group of Hindu men in Jammu and Kashmir state, calling on the government to take action.

The girl was drugged, repeatedly raped and held captive for five days at a Hindu temple, and then beaten to death.

Protests erupted after police accused eight Hindu men of raping the Muslim girl in a bid to force her community out of the Hindu-dominated area.

The attack echoed shockwaves similar to that of 2012 when a Delhi student was gang raped on a bus.

The cabinet approved amending the laws on sexual violence to include capital punishment for those convicted of raping children below the age of 12, as well as toughening minimum sentences for convicted rapists.

"The ordinance will be sent to the president for his consent," the official said on condition of anonymity. The president's approval is seen as a formality.

The new decree will mean that a trial needs to happen in two months following an arrest.

Similar legislation to approve the death penalty has been introduced in recent months by four Indian states.

India has the death penalty for brutal murders and terror attacks, however, they are rarely carried out and are often overturned by higher courts.

The last hanging happened in 2015 for a 1993 Mumbai bombing convict.

Some 11,000 child rape cases were reported in 2015.

Activists say lax implementation of laws and snail-paced trials is what continues to drive the "rape culture" in India, with some accusing police of corruption, affording influential people slack.