India’s cabinet has approved the death penalty for the rape of girls below the age of 12 and will come into effect once signed by President Ram Nath Kovind.

Police in India have arrested seven men in connection to the brutal gang rape and public shaming of a 15-year-old girl.

The child was allegedly attacked by a group in the Gaya district in the country’s northeastern Birah state on August 15, a police official told CNN.

She was in a relationship with one of the men arrested, telling investigators she had agreed to join him and friends for a walk.

The victim was gang raped by the men, police allege.

The next morning, her mother went to village seniors to inform them of the attack but they accused the teen of lying.

It was then that villagers shaved her head and paraded her around the community as a punishment for making “false accusations”, the girl told police.

“Out of the six accused of gang rape, three have been arrested. All four people allegedly involved in shaving her head have also been arrested,” police official Raviranjana Kumari told CNN.

The investigation was ongoing and further arrests could be made, he said.

India has been plagued by a spate of horrific and violent attacks on young girls and women over recent years, which have made international headlines.

Official figures show there were 18,862 reported cases of child sex attacks in 2016, equating to more than 50 every day.

Last week, a little girl was playing outside when she was allegedly lured away by two brothers who raped her and strangled her to death in Uttar Pradesh in India’s north.

The six-year-old’s body was allegedly hidden by the perpetrators’ mother. The brothers, aged 12 and 15, admitted to the horrific attack, local police said.

Earlier in August, a three-year-old girl was raped and beheaded after being kidnapped from a train station in the eastern state of Jharkhand.

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In January, a 16-year-old girl was gang raped and murdered in the Gaya district, before being murdered. Her mutilated body was found near her home.

That incident occurred just days after the body of another girl, also 16, was found in the same area, having been raped and murdered.

Those incidents sparked public outcry and widespread demonstrations.

India’s government has introduced tougher rape laws, including the introduction of the death penalty for cases where the victim was a child.