Justice has prevailed: PM Modi after hanging of Nirbhaya case convicts
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said justice has prevailed after four men convicted of the gang rape and murder of a Delhi woman were hanged. Taking on to Twitter, he said, "Justice has prevailed. It's of utmost importance to ensure dignity&safety of women. Our Nari Shakti has excelled in every field. Together,we have to build a nation where the focus is on women empowerment,where there's emphasis on equality & opportunity"
Meanwhile, Union Minister Smriti Irani said Nirbhaya case convicts' hanging is a message for every criminal that one day law will catch up with you.
Seven years, three months and four days after the gruesome rape and murder of Nirbhaya, all four convicts -- Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, and Akshay Kumar Singh -- were hanged till death at 5.30 am today (Friday, March 20, 2020) in Tihar Jail by Meerut hangman Pawan Jallad. The hanging brings an end to a long-drawn court process that dragged for years. The execution of the four convicts comes after the Delhi High Court and then the Supreme Court of India rejected the late-night petition challenging the execution.
The apex court observed that the offence created a "Tsunami of shock" and fell under the category of "rarest of rare".
The convicts then availed the legal and constitutional remedies of review -- curative and mercy petitions -- slowly and steadily over the span of three years. Their execution got deferred thrice this year due to the pending remedies, but eventually they were all rejected.
Pawan Gupta was the last convict to exhaust all his remedies on March 4, following which the court issued a death warrant against all the four convicts. But this did not end here.
On March 19, even a day before hanging, late-night hearings were forced in Delhi High Court and then the Supreme Court. However, that didn't help the convicts as both the courts dismissed the petitions.
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