Why India's outrage over sexual violence is reaching boiling point

India's outrage over sexual violence is reaching boiling point, with protests once again spilling into the country's capital.

Thousands of people took to the streets of New Delhi on Sunday demanding change following the latest in a string of high-profile cases.

This time, protesters called for justice over the brutal rape, torture and killing of Asifa Bano - an eight-year-old girl.

Asifa Bano (background) was brutally attacked and killed in January. Credit: PA

Asifa, a Muslim girl from India's Kashmir region, was reportedly drugged with anti-anxiety medication, repeatedly raped and strangled in January.

A group of Hindu men have since been arrested over her death, but members of a radical Hindu group with links to the government have demanded their release.

Police said the attack had been planned as a way to terrify the Bakarwals, a Muslim community of nomadic herders, into leaving the area.

Sexual violence has plagued Indian society in recent years. Credit: AP

Protesters are further unhappy because they claim Asifa's death is being used as a political tool.

Demonstrators in New Delhi brandished placards demanding swift justice and condemned those playing politics.

Among the demonstrators sat a young girl amid symbolic dolls to mourn Asifa.

Tough laws do not seem to have deterred sexual offenders. Credit: AP

In another recent incident, a teenage girl accused the governing Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh state of shielding a lawmaker accused of abducting and raping her last year.

Violent crime against women and girls has been a highly topical issue in recent years across India.

Such cases have been on the rise in the country, despite tough laws being enacted in 2013.

In one of the most notorious cases, a young woman died in New Delhi in 2012 after being gang raped. This prompted hundreds of thousands of people to take to the streets in protest.