Abhishek N. Chinnappa/Reuters
Police in eastern India have made 22 arrests after three teenage girls were raped in separate attacks in less than two days. Officials announced the arrests Sunday, just weeks after growing public outrage prompted India’s cabinet to impose harsher penalties on those convicted of sexually assaulting minors. In the eastern state of Jharkhand, 14 men and one woman were reportedly arrested in connection with the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl. The girl was kidnapped and assaulted Thursday before later being burned to death by an angry mob after her parents reported her attackers to the village council. The village elders had fined the girls’ attackers $749 and ordered them to do 100 sit-ups. Another arrest was made in the same state in connection with a 17-year-old girl who is in critical condition after being raped and set on fire Friday. In the neighboring Odisha state, six people were arrested for allegedly gangraping a 14-year-old girl on Friday, officials said.