India Schoolgirls Raped: Eight Men Arrested

Eight men have been arrested over the abduction and gang-rape of four young girls from a convent boarding house in eastern India.

The girls aged between 12 and 14 were taken from the hostel in Jharkhand state by men armed with knives, who then assaulted them in a nearby forest.

"We have made some arrests and we are interrogating eight persons accused in the case," said police superintendent YS Ramesh.

"These girls are shocked and frightened after the incident," he said, adding that police would press for a speedy trial if the men were charged over the crime.

The school principal told police that the gang had locked him and other teachers in a room at the school run by a Christian missionary in the state's Pakur district.

The men then entered the dormitory and took away the four girls, all from a local tribal community, police said.

Medical tests on the girls confirmed they were raped.

India faces intense scrutiny over its efforts to curb violence against women following the fatal gang-rape of a student on a bus in New Delhi last December.

The death sparked protests across the country throughout December and January.

Parliament has passed laws aimed at protecting women better, including doubling the minimum prison sentence for gang-rape to 20 years.