A man who gang-raped of an eight-year-old Muslim girl for three days at an Indian temple stopped her killer as he beat her to death with a rock so he could have sex with the child one last time, police have revealed.

Asifa Bano's mutilated body was found a week after she was kidnapped by a gang trying to drive away the Muslim nomadic herders to which she belonged in India's Jammu and Kashmir.

As a trial began today of eight men accused of involvement, police released shocking new details of the attack and how she was sedated and kept without food in a small village.

Police say she was held in the temple for three days while three men gang-raped her repeatedly before she was strangled and hit twice with a heavy rock. One of the men involved ordered another attacker to delay her murder so he could rape her one last time, police say.

A lawyer has been threatened with rape and death for fighting for justice for Asifa Bano - an eight-year-old Muslim girl who was raped and murdered in India

Eight men have gone on trial over the murder. They include Sanji Ram (pictured arriving at court today), a retired revenue official, who, according to Indian media, is accused of being the main conspirator, inciting his nephew to abduct the child. He was also said to be in-charge of the temple where the gang-rape and murder took place

One of the men on trial is Deepak Khajuria (pictured outside court today), a special police officer

One of the men accused of involvement in the case is escorted by police at the District and Sessions court in Kathua today

Eight men, including four police and a Hindu temple custodian, have been arrested over the attack and appeared in court on Monday for the first hearing in a case that has sparked nationwide outrage.

Ankur Sharma, a lawyer for the accused, said the men had pleaded not guilty and were willing to take a lie-detector test. The court adjourned the case for procedural reasons, he added.

The temple's custodian, retired public servant Sanji Ram, is accused of conspiring with four police officers, a friend, his son and a juvenile nephew to kill the girl and destroy crucial evidence.

Two of the eight on trial were police officers who are accused of being bribed to stifle the investigation.

Scenes of lawyers trying to stop police from entering court to file charges against the accused - all Hindus - evoked disgust and a warning from India's highest court against any attempts to obstruct justice.

The case has heightened fears of communal tensions in Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state.

Meanwhile, the lawyer representing the young victim's family and fought for a proper investigation since the girl's body was found in January, said she feared for her life after receiving threats over the case.

Deepika Singh Rawat has requested for the trial to be held outside Jammu and Kashmir.

The temple's custodian, retired public servant Sanji Ram (pictured), is accused of conspiring with four police officers, a friend, his son and a juvenile nephew to kill the girl and destroy crucial evidence

Ankur Sharma, a lawyer for the accused, said the men had pleaded not guilty were willing to take a lie-detector test. The court adjourned the case for procedural reasons, he added

Disgust over the horrific crime has sparked protests in cities across India over the past few days. This was the scene as Kashmiri Muslim protesters hurled stones at Indian government forces during one demonstration in Srinagar

Protesters have demanded stern action after an eight-year-old girl was raped and murdered in Kashmir

'I don't know till when I will be alive. I might be raped, my modesty may be outraged, I may be killed, I might be damaged. was threatened yesterday that 'we will not forgive you'. I am going to tell Supreme Court that I am in danger,' she said.

Disgust over the horrific crime led to protests in cities across India over the past few days, with anger fuelled by support for the accused initially shown by ministers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party.

The protests have also focused on another rape incident allegedly involving a BJP lawmaker in the crime-ridden, most populous, poor northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

More rallies demanding action against rapists and violence against women were expected on Monday in the capital and Ahmedabad, the state capital of Modi's home state of Gujarat.

According to the charge sheet the kidnapping, rape and killing of the girl was part of a plan to drive the nomads out of Kathua district in Jammu, the mostly Hindu portion of India's only Muslim majority state.

Kashmiri lawyers hold placards during a protest calling for justice over the horrifying rape

Activsits have staged various protests to bring attention to rape cases and violence against women in India in recent days

It was only when the charge sheet was finally filed last week, giving details of the horrendous crime, that Indians reacted en masse.

Two ministers from the BJP, which shares power in Jammu and Kashmir, were forced to resign after being pilloried for joining a rally in support of the accused men.

The national outrage over the Kathua case has drawn parallels with the massive protests that followed the gang rape and murder of a girl on a Delhi bus in 2012, which forced the then Congress-led government to enact tough new rape laws including the death penalty.

But activists say crimes of violence against women are often inadequately investigated, and in some cases accused with political connections have been protected.

Indian Muslims protest in Jammu over the killing of Asifa Bano

More incidents of child rape, including one in Surat in Gujurat, were reported over the weekend.

On Friday, Modi assured the country that the guilty would not be shielded, but he has been criticised for failing to speak out sooner.

Before leaving for an official visit to Europe this week, Modi received a letter from 50 former civil servants upbraiding the country's political leadership over its weak response.

'The bestiality and the barbarity involved in the rape and murder of an eight year old child shows the depths of depravity that we have sunk into,' the letter said.

'In post-Independence India, this is our darkest hour and we find the response of our government, the leaders of our political parties inadequate and feeble.'