Lawyer urges CJI to take Suo Moto Cognizance in incident of self-immolation outside SC

Supreme Court lawyer, Alakh Alok Srivastava has written a letter to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana requesting him to take Suo Motu Cognizance (SMC) of the death of the woman who had allegedly set herself ablaze outside Supreme Court and succumbed to her injuries on Tuesday.

The lawyer, Srivastava, has written a letter and sought SMC of the CJI to this incident which took place on August 16 this year, wherein, a 24-year-old woman and her male friend set themselves on fire, outside Supreme Court premises.

Srivastava said, in his letter, a copy of which accessed by ANI, revealed that both of them were immediately rushed to Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital here. While the man succumbed on August 21, the woman also died yesterday.

Before setting herself on fire, the woman had recorded a Facebook live video, wherein, she had reportedly said that she had lodged a rape case against BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) Member of Parliament (MP) Atul Rai and further alleged that few senior IPS officers and a Judge from Uttar Pradesh were "part of the nexus", Srivastava, said, in his letter.

As per reports, the accused had raped the victim in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, in 2018, and allegedly filmed the assault, and threatened to circulate the video clip on social media. Subsequently, an FIR was registered in this case and the trial of the case is going on before the Trial Court at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, the letter of Srivastava said.

Meanwhile, in November 2020, the brother of the accused reportedly lodged a complaint in Varanasi against the victim for allegedly forging her date of birth in her mark sheet. A case was lodged against the victim under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including, Cheating, forgery and other sections at Varanasi, Srivastava in his letter said.

On August 2 this year, the trial Court at Varanasi in UP reportedly issued a Non-Bailable Warrant (NBW) against the victim after the police told the court that she "remained untraceable despite several raids", Srivastava said in his letter, written to the CJI.

The victim's parents, who live in Ballia in UP, have said that the accused and his associates were allegedly harassing the victim, torturing her and threatening to circulate her video, and pressurizing her to withdraw her rape case. The victim's parents have further said that the victim never absconded, despite that NBW was issued against her by the Court, due to which she was utterly upset and disappointed, Srivastava said in his letter

A news report said that the deceased woman and her family members had leveled serious allegations against the accused MP, policemen, and also on a member of the judiciary, Srivastava said in his letter.

"While I completely disapprove her drastic decision to set herself on fire, at the same time, I also strongly feel that the victim very much deserves to get justice even after her death, pursuant to the aforesaid unfortunate incident, which took place at the doorsteps of our Supreme Court," Srivastava said in his letter, written to the CJI.

Hence, in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the instant case, Srivastava had prayed the CJI to kindly take SMC in this heart-wrenching incident, and issue appropriate directions to conduct Supreme Court-monitored CBI inquiry into it, in the interest of Justice, Srivastava, has said, in his letter written to the CJI.

( With inputs from ANI )