Police were searching western India villages for suspects on Friday in the rape and killing of three young sisters, as Indians still upset over the brutal gang rape of a woman on a New Delhi bus in December have to deal with yet another cruel sexual attack.

Three sisters - ages 7, 9 and 11 - were found dead on Feb. 16 in a village in the Bhandara district in Maharashtra after they went missing from school two days prior, police officer Abhinav Deshmukh said. Their bodies were located roughly 630 miles south of New Delhi.

The mother of the victims felt that police didn't take the case seriously enough and it took several days for them to do something. She also accused the police of a weak investigation.

Angry protestors burned tires, blocked national highway passing for hours earlier in the week and forced stores to close, as they demanded justice. The police eventually registered a case of rape and murder after it was found that the girls were sexually abused and killed.

One police officer was suspended for not acting in a timely manner, Indian Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel, who is a representative of the Bhandara district in Parliament, said on Thursday. Cabinet Minister Tewari said that the killings were a "very, very heinous assault" and that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was sending $18,300 to the family of the girls.

Police initially thought the deaths of the three children were accidental, according to Press Trust of India,

The respective case has left Indians horrified just two months after the gang rape and killing of a young woman on a New Delhi bus. The gang rape ignited nationwide protests in regards to India's treatment of women and sparked the government to hurry up and enact a new package of laws designed to protect them.

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