Justice has prevailed, says PM Modi post Nirbhaya convicts' execution

Stating that "Justice has prevailed", Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called for a united effort to build a nation where the focus is on women's empowerment while ensuring dignity and safety for them.

The Prime Minister's message came soon after the execution of the four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case.

Taking to Twitter, the Prime Minister advocated for creating a nation which lays emphasis on equality and opportunity.

"Justice has prevailed. It is of utmost importance to ensure dignity and 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 is an emphasis on equality and opportunity," Modi tweeted.

Convicts in the Nirbhaya case -- Akshay Singh Thakur, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, and Mukesh Singh -- were hanged till death at 5:30 am 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 at a Singapore hospital a few days later.

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.