Police have used water cannons to disperse hundreds of women protesting at violence against women in the northern Indian state where two teenagers were gang-raped and found hanging from a tree.

Police have used water cannons to disperse hundreds of women protesting against a rise in violence against women in the Indian state where two teenagers were gang-raped and later found hanging from a tree.

Police arrested a third suspect today over the gang rape and killing of two teenage cousins found hanging from a tree in northern India, as a top state official said he was recommending a federal investigation into a case that has triggered national outrage.

Facing relentless media attention and growing criticism for a series of rapes, state officials in north India fired two police officers for failing to investigate the disappearance of two teenage cousins, who were gang-raped and later found hanging from a tree.

Two police officers who failed to investigate the disappearance of two teenage girls in India who were gang-raped and later found hanging from a tree have been fired.