A six-year-old girl has allegedly been raped and strangled in India, with the attack taking place on the same day the government approved the death penalty for those convicted of raping children under the age of 12.

The child, who had gone out to buy biscuits, was left for dead inside a school in the Cuttack district of Odisha on Saturday, according to media reports in the country.

Family members and people from her village went searching for her when she failed to returned home.

"After a frantic search for over an hour, the girl was found lying unconscious and without clothes inside the school campus with blood oozing from her head and mouth," The Times of India reported police as saying.

A Salepur police officer, PK Jena, told the newspaper the child was being treated in a hospital in Cuttack.


The girl is reportedly in a "very critical" condition following the attack, in which she is said to have suffered serious injuries to her head, face, neck and chest.

Image: Protesters are calling for stronger rape laws in India

The officer confirmed a 25-year-old man from the same village was arrested in connection with the incident.

Odisha's health minister, Pratap Jena, reportedly visited the girl in hospital and said a team of at least 13 doctors was treating her.

The latest incident came as politicians looked to respond to widespread outrage over the rape and killing of another young girl and other attacks on children and women.

An order to introduce the death penalty for anyone found guilty of raping girls under the age of 12 has been approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet and sent up to the president.

The legislation will require the approval of the Indian parliament within six months to become law. However, in the meantime, suspects can be prosecuted under the new rules.

The move comes after the fatal gang rape of a woman in 2012 on a bus sparked large protests and international outrage.

It led to the government doubling prison sentences for rapists to 20 years and criminalising voyeurism, stalking and the trafficking of women.

The age at which a person can be tried as an adult for serious crimes was also lowered from 18 to 16-years-old.