An Indian court has sentenced three Hindu men, including a police officer, to life imprisonment for kidnapping, raping and murdering an eight-year-old Muslim girl, in a case that has exacerbated tensions in India's Jammu and Kashmir region.

Key points: The victim was drugged, held captive and sexually assaulted for a week before being strangled and battered to death with a stone

The victim was drugged, held captive and sexually assaulted for a week before being strangled and battered to death with a stone The case sparked criticism of the country's ruling party after some of its members opposed charges being laid

The case sparked criticism of the country's ruling party after some of its members opposed charges being laid Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for three of the men

Judge Tejwinder Singh sentenced three other policemen to five years in prison for destroying evidence, prosecutor Santokh Singh said. Another defendant has been acquitted due to insufficient evidence.

Prosecutors plan to appeal to a higher court and seek the death penalty for the three men who received life sentences — Hindu priest Sanji Ram, Deepak Khajuria and Parvesh Kumar.

A defence lawyer told reporters the convicted men's legal team would appeal against the verdict.

An eighth suspect, a minor, will be tried separately by a juvenile court.

Drugged, abducted and attacked while minding ponies in a forest

The girl, who was a member of a nomadic tribe, was grazing her family's ponies in the forests of the Himalayan foothills when she was kidnapped in January 2018.

She was drugged, held captive in a temple and sexually assaulted for a week before being strangled and battered to death with a stone.

Her mutilated body was found in the woods a week later.

The girl's father, Mohammed Akhtar, said the men convicted of the crimes should be "punished speedily, not just convicted".

"Our family has gone through hell," he said.

"Our hearts are bleeding. These beasts should be hanged."

A police bus carrying the men arrives at a court in Pathankot. ( Reuters: Mukesh Gupta )

Victim's family and lawyers faced death threats

The abduction, rape and killing of the child was part of a plan to remove the minority nomadic community from the area, the 15-page charge sheet said.

The attack has fanned communal tensions between Hindus and Muslims in the area.

It sparked protests across Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region where rebels have been fighting for years for independence or unification with Pakistan and there is great distrust of the Government.

It also led to the introduction of the death penalty for rapists of girls under the age of 12.

The trial, held in private, began over a year ago in Pathankot, a town about 70 kilometres from Rasana village in Kathua district, where the incident happened, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

India's Supreme Court shifted the trial to the neighbouring state of Punjab after the girl's family and lawyer said they faced death threats, and local lawyers and Hindu politicians, including some from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, held protests against police filing charges in court.

India has long been plagued by violence against women and children.

Reported rapes climbed 60 per cent to 40,000 from 2012 to 2016, according to government statistics. Many more go unreported, especially in rural areas.

The death penalty in India is usually carried out by hanging.

ABC/AP