Chief Justice bench of the Supreme Court will hear the Hathras PIL (File)
The Supreme Court will hear a PIL (public interest litigation) today asking for a CBI or SIT probe - that will be headed by a former judge of either the top court or a high court - into the alleged gang rape and murder of a 20-year-old Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras last month.
The PIL, filed by social activist Satyama Dubey and others, says a "fair" investigation is needed and points to inaction on the part of UP Police, which has come under fire for its handling of the case, confrontations with opposition leaders and a secretive 2.30 am cremation of the body.
The PIL also wants the trial, when it does start, to be shifted from UP to Delhi.
A three-member bench led by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and including Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian will hear the PIL via video-conferencing.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who has claimed his government is "committed to the safety and security of women", has already recommended a CBI probe.
Five policemen, including the Superintendent of Police, have been suspended from Hathras district as the BJP government in the state tries to quell the flood of criticism coming its way
The young Dalit woman, who died in a Delhi hospital last week, suffered severe injuries - including one to her spine - in a savage assault many have compared to the 2012 gang rape in the national capital.
UP Police have been criticised for a secretive 2.30 am cremation ceremony for the young woman
The shocking incident has triggered widespread protests, including one in Delhi where Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called for the accused - four men from the so-called upper castes - to be hanged.
UP Police, apart from facing allegations of lapses in handling the woman's complaint, have also been accused of being invested in proving that there was no gang rape - that the woman and her family lied. The traumatised family of the young woman have been asked to undergo lie detector tests.
The family has also alleged that they have been threatened and intimidated by the administration, including being locked up in their homes while the police cremated the woman's body, and being placed under house arrest to prevent them from talking to the media.
The police have also been involved in physical confrontations with opposition leaders - the Congress's Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and the Trinamool Congress's Derek O'Brien.
On Monday the cops filed 19 FIRs, not against those accused of the assault, but against those they said were hatching a "conspiracy" against the Yogi Adityanath government.
The BJP, which is in power in Uttar Pradesh, is also under pressure over its apparent inability to prevent horrific crimes against women - at least three more assaults and alleged rapes have been reported from the state since the Hathras case, including one involving a 11-year-old girl.
The party had earlier dismissed protests by the opposition as a "political stunt" but was questioned by many after it deployed over 200 policemen at a toll plaza on the Delhi-UP border to stop Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from visiting the grieving family to offer his condolences.