THREE men have been sentenced to death for two gang-rapes last year in Mumbai, including an attack on a photojournalist that sparked protests in the city.

A Mumbai court sentenced Vijay Jadhav, 19, Kasim Bengali, 21, and Mohammed Salim Ansari, 28, to death by hanging. It is the first time capital punishment has been given for rape not involving the death of the victim.

Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said: "There was no chance of reformation in these men and this sends a strong signal to society."

The three men were given the death penalty because as well as the attack on the 22-year-old photojournalist at an abandoned textile mill they had also been found guilty of raping another woman, an 18-year-old telephone operator, at the same location last July.

Women's safety in India has been under the spotlight since the gang-rape and murder of a student on a bus in Delhi in 2012. The attack provoked nationwide protests and the introduction of tougher sexual assault laws.