Dozens Join Hong Kong Vigil Over India Child Rapes

More than a hundred people held a candlelight vigil at Harcourt Garden in Admiralty on Sunday over the Indian government's handling of sex attacks on girls and women.

Participants held a five-minute silence for rape victims in the country, while a petition was read out calling for impartial and speedy prosecutions against the perpetrators of sex crimes.

Organiser Kavita Khosa, a social entrepreneur and lawyer, said she had reservations about the Indian government's announcement at the weekend that child rapists would now face the death penalty.

"That criminal may then be inclined to kill his victim because if he is caught he is going to be getting the death penalty ... so he may not want to rape and then leave the victim alive so there is the possibility of evidence against him," she told RTHK's Joanne Wong.

"So it is a little difficult, there's no black and white that implementing the death penalty is going to be a huge step towards reducing such crimes."

There have been protests across India in recent weeks following the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl. In 2016, there were 40,000 rapes reported to the country's authorities and around 40 percent of the victims were children.