New Delhi, Sep 30 (IANS): The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Wednesday wrote to Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde to urge the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the gruesome gang rape and murder of a Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras district.

In a letter addressed to the CJI and other Supreme Court Judges, Maliwal said: "Even in her death, the Uttar Pradesh government was not moved by the pleas and tears of the victim. In gravest of grave violation of her human rights, her family was locked up in their home and her body forcibly taken to village fields at 2 am (on Wednesday) and cremated by police. No family member was allowed to cremate the body and the family could not be with their daughter in death."

The development came amid the flak the Uttar Pradesh government and state police received after the bereaved family alleged that the 19-year-old victim was cremated forcibly on September 29-30 night. She had died in Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital on Tuesday.

The DCW chief claimed that the conduct of the UP government and its police was a "matter of grave concern" since authorities tried for days to pass off the crime -- which occurred on September 14 -- as a dispute between villagers and tried to cover it up.

The victim's brother had earlier told the media: "The police forcibly took the body for cremation. When my father reached Hathras, he was immediately taken (to the cremation site) by the police."

However, Hathras police denied the charges and maintained that the family cremated the body after following rituals under the supervision of police and civil administration.