The Supreme People's Court has vowed "zero tolerance" of crimes that affect the rights of children, highlighting sexual abuse and corporal punishment.

"Left-behind children" play games in a primary school in Hebei Province. The Supreme People's Court has vowed "zero tolerance" of crimes that affect the rights of children, highlighting sexual abuse and corporal punishment.

Ahead of Saturday's International Children's Day, the SPC yesterday ordered lower courts to impose harsher punishments on such crimes and to stick to the principle of "minimum tolerance and maximum protection."

A statement issued by the court quoted an unnamed official as saying: "Criminal cases involving child molestation, corporal punishment and abuse of minors have been occurring frequently in China recently."

The SPC published details of three "guiding" cases for judges' reference when handling child molestation and other cases relating to infringement of minors' rights.

One involves a village primary school teacher surnamed Bao who molested seven school girls and raped six of them scores of times over a two-year period before he was reported to police in September 2011. Bao also took nude photos and videos of the female students.

He was sentenced to death and was executed recently, the court said.

The second case concerned Li Yanqin, who maltreated her stepdaughter and beat her to death in May 2011. Li was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, as the court took into account the fact she had sent her stepdaughter to hospital and confessed her crimes.

The court also gave the example of Deng Jiawen, who incited several minors to commit burglary multiple times and extorted a huge amount of money between August 2010 and February 2011.

Deng was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison and was fined 4,000 yuan (US$646).

Meanwhile, a primary school teacher in central China's Henan Province has been arrested for allegedly molesting multiple female students, local authorities said yesterday.

Yang Shifu, a 55-year-old teacher from Tongbo County, is accused of molesting students since last spring.

He was detained on May 23 after police received tip-offs and conducted inquiries.

The students also received medical checks, but the statement did not detail the results.

Internet reports previously claimed the parents had taken their children to a local hospital for medical checks, which revealed that the hymens of nine girls had been ruptured.

The headmaster of the school has been suspended.

The case is among a series of sexual assaults reported in primary schools across the country, prompting public anger over teachers' misconduct and concern for the safety of students.