(CNN) India's Cabinet has passed an executive order to make the rape of a girl under 12 punishable by the death penalty as national outrage grows over sexual violence in the country.

The order -- known as an ordinance -- was approved Saturday at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi , according to India's Ministry of Women and Child Development.

The change in the law will only become permanent once it is approved by India's Parliament, which is currently in recess. It goes into effect once it's signed by the President, considered a formality, but it will lapse after six months if Parliament doesn't ratify it.

Today, Hon'ble PM Shri @NarendraModi ji chaired a Special Cabinet Meeting, which approved promulgation of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018, for Death to Child Rapists. — Ministry of WCD (@MinistryWCD) April 21, 2018

The executive order also increased the minimum punishment for female rape from seven years in prison to 10 years, extendable up to life imprisonment, and introduced measures to speed up court proceedings in rape cases. Forensic rape kits will be provided to police stations and hospitals, and specialist labs will be set up exclusively to handle rape cases, the ministry said.

Modi has come under increasing pressure to act following a string of particularly brutal rape cases that have shocked the nation. Less than three months ago, his government argued against a call in the Supreme Court to introduce the death penalty for child rape.

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