New Delhi, Sep 7 (PTI) A letter has been written on Tuesday to Chief Justice of India (CJI) N V Ramana seeking a judicial probe by a retired judge of the apex court into an incident in which a man and a woman succumbed after setting themselves on fire outside the Supreme Court last month.

On August 16, the 24-year-old woman, an alleged rape survivor, and her 27-year-old male friend set themselves ablaze by pouring kerosene over themselves outside one of the gates of the apex courts and later succumbed to burn injuries in a hospital here on August 24 and August 21 respectively.

Also Read | Goa Assembly Elections 2022: AAP Launches ‘Jobs For All’ Initiative in Poll-Bound State.

The woman was allegedly raped in 2019 by the Member of Parliament Atul Rai, and her friend was a main eyewitness to it.

The letter written by advocate Amit Dwivedi and law student Sparsh Goel sought registration of an FIR for unnatural death "so that proper inquiry could be conducted as per detailed procedure laid out in law "to draw up a report of the apparent cause of death and conduct detailed inquiry, which would state the exact manner as per the inquest report in which the woman and her friend succumbed to death by way of self-immolation."

Also Read | Chhattisgarh Shocker: Drunk Duo Eat Venomous Snake in Korba, Hospitalised.

It also sought to initiate a judicial and time bound inquiry presided by a retired judge of the apex court in relation to circumstances surrounding their deaths and to take appropriate action if any wrong doing is found, as alleged by the deceased persons.

It said the inquiry report may also recommend measures to be taken, in future, to protect victims of sexual assault who suffer from vicious hands of strong and mighty.

"The burning of two aggrieved litigants at the altar of the highest court of our country has shaken the collective conscience of the whole country," the letter said.

It alleged that after filing of an FIR in the matter of alleged rape, the "UP police left no stone unturned in harassing both woman and her friend and he was even attacked at a special MP/MLA court hearing in Prayagraj in January 2021."

Both the victims ran pillar to post to seek justice as the woman was harassed by the MP and frivolous cases were being filed against her and her loved ones as an instrument of intimidation, the letter claimed.

"In her quest for justice, she approached many authorities including this court. She also tried to put her agony before the world through her social media accounts as for a commoner that is the only way to make their grievances public. However, she could not get satisfactory results anywhere and having become hopeless, she committed the aforesaid painful act along with her friend," it said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)