Justice delayed but finally delivered: Smriti Irani on execution of Nirbhaya convicts

Union Minister Smriti Irani on Friday hailed the execution of Nirbhaya-gangrape convicts and remarked that justice was delayed but has finally been delivered.

"This is a message to all those who think they can commit crimes against women and escape the law," Irani told media persons.

"I have seen the struggle of a mother for years. Today, I greet this day with aplomb for Nirbhaya as she finally received justice," she added.

The four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case were hanged to death at 5:30 a.m. in Delhi's Tihar jail on Friday.

The hanging was carried out as per schedule after a three-judge Supreme Court bench rejected the final plea by the convicts' lawyer AP Singh to stay their execution in a late-night hearing.

The four convicts, along with two others including Ram Singh and a juvenile, had raped and brutally tortured a 23-year-old paramedic student on a moving bus in south Delhi on the night of December 16, 2012. The victim died a few days later after battling for life at Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital and later at a Singapore hospital.

The case had created an uproar across the country, especially in Delhi where a large number of people came out on the streets, demanding justice for the victim, who was renamed as 'Nirbhaya' or the fearless.