RAIPUR: A court in India has sentenced five men to death for the gruesome gang rape and murder of a teenager as well as the killing of her father and toddler-aged niece.

The crime was committed in January 2021 when the men offered the girl and her family — all members of a disadvantaged tribal community in the central state of Chhattisgarh — lifts on their motorbikes while they were waiting for public transport.

They later clubbed the teenager’s father to death as he attempted to stop the rape and killed her three-year-old niece, public prosecutor Sunil Kumar Mishra told AFP.

The last victim was found unconscious by villagers several days later and died on her way to hospital.

Five men were found guilty of the rape and triple murder “and condemned to death”, Mishra said on Thursday, the day after the sentence was published by the court.

A sixth man “was found guilty of association in crimes, but his involvement in rape was not proved, so he was sentenced to imprisonment for the remainder of his life for killings”, he added.

India imposes the death penalty, although it is rarely carried out in practice.

A court in the eastern city of Kolkata sentenced a man to life in prison this week after he was found guilty of raping and murdering a 31-year-old doctor last year.

The discovery of her bloodied body at a state-run hospital in August stoked nationwide anger and protests at the chronic issue of violence against women.