A man accused of attempting to rape a girl in India has been left in a critical condition after locals cut off his genitals as punishment.

The group took the law into their own hands after they found a 40-year old man pinning a young girl to the wall in the north-eastern city of Ganganagar.

After a community meeting, the vigilantes dragged the man into a nearby butchery and used a meat cleaver to cut off his penis. The remains were discarded in the street beside the man, who was suffering from severe blood loss.

One local said: "No one went to help the man because they could see his penis on the ground and knew this was punishment for a sex crime," the Daily Mirror reports.

"We have had a lot of intolerable offences against women in this country recently, with girls being raped, hung, and molested, and it's time it stopped."

She said it would "send out a very strong message" to possible offenders, warning them of the punishment they face.

Police were quick to condemn the attack, warning locals not to take the law into their own hands and calling for those responsible to hand themselves in.

"As deplorable as these crimes are, law and order has to be maintained, and not lynch justice."

The young girl was treated for shock and is receiving counselling, while the man remains in a critical condition in hospital.

Incidents of rape in India have gone up tenfold in the last 40 years, The Guardian reports, with a spate of recent attacks shocking the nation and the world. Last year a 23-year old woman died after being gang raped on a bus in the Indian capital.