Phoolan Devi
Encyclopedia
Phoolan Devi (10 August 1963 – 25 July 2001), popularly known as the "Bandit Queen", was an Indian dacoit (bandit) and later a politician
. After being gang-raped by some upper-caste members of her gang, Phoolan Devi turned a bandit, and killed 22 upper-caste villagers in 1981. Following this, she became notorious across India as a bandit. Later, she surrendered and successfully contested election as a member of the Samajwadi Party
. The 1994 film Bandit Queen
was loosely based on her life.
, in the small village of Ghura Ka Purwa (also spelled Gorha ka Purwa) in Jalaun District
, Uttar Pradesh
. She was the fourth child of Devi Din and Moola.
Phoolan's father owned an acre
(0.4 hectare) of land with a huge neem tree
on it. He hoped that the valuable timber
of the tree would enable him to pay dowry
for his daughters' marriages. When Phoolan was eleven years old, her cousin Mayadin came to village and declared himself the head of the family. He sent workers to cut down the neem tree and sell the wood, intending to keep the proceeds for himself. Although her father submitted with mild protest, Phoolan confronted her cousin. She taunted him, publicly called him a thief and attacked him. With her elder sister, she staged a sit-in
on his land. Even after violence against Phoolan — knocking her out with a brick — she wouldn't relent. In an effort to rid himself of the little nuisance, Mayadin arranged to have her married to a man named Putti Lal, who lived several hundred miles away. Putti Lal was in his thirties; Phoolan was eleven. Devi claimed in her autobiography that he was a man of "very bad character".
Phoolan's husband raped and mistreated her, but that she was too young to know what was happening. She was returned to her village, being deemed too young to fulfill her duties as a wife. Three years later in 1977, she was returned back to Putti Lal's home. This time she protested, and was returned back to her father's home. A wife leaving her husband was a serious taboo in the rural areas, and Phoolan was marked as a social outcast. Phoolan continued to challenge her cousin Mayadin, accusing him of thievery. She took him to court for unlawfully holding her father's land, but lost the case.
In 1979, Mayadin accused Phoolan of stealing small items from his house, and arranged for her arrest by the police. During the three days in jail, she was beaten and raped by the authorities. She blamed her cousin for the injustice, and developed hatred for men who routinely denigrated women. When released from prison, she was further shunned by her village and her family.
, wanted to rape her. However, she was protected by Vikram Mallah, the second-in-command of the gang who belonged to Phoolan's caste. One night when Baboo attempted to rape Phoolan, Vikram killed him and assumed the gang leadership. Phoolan became Vikram's second wife. The gang ransacked the village where Phoolan's husband lived. Phoolan stabbed her estranged husband, and dragged him in front of the villagers. The gang left him lying almost dead by the road, with a note as a warning for older men who marry young girls.
Phoolan Devi learned how to use a rifle from Vikram, and participated in the gang's activities across Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh
. The activities consisted of ransacking high-caste villages, kidnapping upper-caste landowners for ransom
and train robberies. After every crime, Phoolan Devi would visit a Durga
temple and thank the goddess for her protection. The gang hid out in the Chambal ravine
.
, returned to the gang. They were outraged by the killing of the gang leader by a low caste gang member. Shri Ram would make sexual advances towards Phoolan. This led to tensions between Shri Ram and Vikram, who made him apologize to Phoolan. When the gang would ransack a village, Shri Ram would beat and insult the Mallahs. This displeased the Mallahs in the gang, many of whom left the gang. When Shri Ram got a dozen Thakurs to join the gang, Vikram suggested the gang be divided into two, but Shri Ram refused. Shortly afterwards, Shri Ram and other Thakur members in the gang attempted to kill Phoolan and Vikram, who managed to escape. However, later they successfully killed Vikram, abducted Phoolan and locked her up in the Behmai village.
Phoolan Devi was beatend and raped by several men in Behmai. After three weeks, she managed to escape with two other Mallahs from Vikram's gang, helped by a low-caste villager. She gathered a gang of Mallahs, that she led with Man Singh, a member of Vikram's former gang. The gang carried out a series of violent robberies in north and central India, mainly targeting upper-caste people. Some say that Phoolan Devi targeted only the upper-caste people and shared the loot with the lower-caste people, but the Indian authorities insist this is a myth.
Seventeen months after her escape from Behmai, Phoolan returned to the village, to take her revenge. On 14 February 1981, Phoolan and her gang marched into the Behmai village, dressed as police officers. The Thakurs in the village were preparing for a wedding. Phoolan's gang demanded that her kidnappers be produced, along with all the valuables in the village. Details of what exactly happened are not available, but Phoolan is said to have recognized two men who earlier had sexually assaulted her and murdered her lover. When Phoolan's gang failed to find all the kidnappers after an exhaustive search, she ordered her gang members to line up all the upper-caste Thakur men in the village and shoot them. The dacoits opened fire and killed twenty-two Thakur men, most of whom were not involved in her kidnapping or rape. Later, Phoolan Devi claimed that she herself didn't kill anybody in Behmai – all the killings were carried out by her gang members.
The Behmai massacre was followed by a massive police manhunt that failed to locate Phoolan Devi. V. P. Singh
, the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, resigned in the wake of the Behmai killings. Phoolan Devi began to be called the Bandit Queen. Dolls of Phoolan Devi dressed as Hindu goddess Durga
were sold in market towns in Uttar Pradesh. She was glorified by much of the Indian media.
Government decided to negotiate a surrender. By this time, Phoolan Devi was in poor health and most of her gang members were dead. In February 1983, she agreed to surrender to the authorities. However, she said that she didn't trust the Uttar Pradesh
police and insisted that she would only surrender to the Madhya Pradesh
Police. She also insisted that she would lay down her arms only before Mahatma Gandhi
's picture and the Hindu goddess Durga
, not to the police. She also required the following conditions:
An unarmed police chief met her at a hiding place in the Chambal ravines. They walked their way to Bhind
, where she laid her rifle before the portraits of Gandhi and Goddess Durga. The onlookers included a crowd of around 10,000 people and 300 police and the then chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Arjun Singh
. 300 police personnel were waiting to arrest her and other members of her gang who surrendered at the same time.
Phoolan Devi was charged with 48 crimes, including 30 charges of dacoity (banditry) and kidnapping. Her trial was delayed for 11 years, which she served in the prison. During this period, she was operated on for ovarian cyst
s and ended up with an involuntary hysterectomy
. She was finally released on parole in 1994 after persuasion by Vishambhar Prasad Nishad, the leader of the Nishadha
fishermen community. The Government of Uttar Pradesh, led by Mulayam Singh Yadav
, withdrew all the cases against her.
made a movie Bandit Queen
(1994) about Phoolan Devi's life up to her 1983 surrender, based on Mala Sen's India’s Bandit Queen: The True Story of Phoolan Devi. Although Phoolan Devi is a heroine in the film, she fiercely disputed its accuracy and fought to get it banned in India. She even threatened to immolate
herself outside a theater if the film were not withdrawn. Eventually, she withdrew her objections after the producer Channel 4
paid her £40,000. The film brought her international recognition. Author-activist Arundhati Roy
in her film review titled, 'The Great Indian Rape Trick', questioned the right to "restage the rape of a living woman without her permission," and charged Shekhar Kapur with exploiting Phoolan Devi and misrepresenting both her life and its meaning.
Though she was illiterate, Phoolan composed her autobiography titled The Bandit Queen of India: An Indian Woman's Amazing Journey From Peasant to International Legend, with help of two international authors, Marie-Therese Cuny and Paul Rambali.
leader Ganga Charan Rajput to "protect the weaker sections". Under Phoolan's leadership, the group aimed at teaching lower-caste people the art of self-defense. During this period, Phoolan married Umaid Singh, her sister's husband and a New Delhi business contractor.
In 1996, Phoolan Devi contested for the 11th Lok Sabha
from Mirzapur
in Uttar Pradesh as a Samajwadi Party
candidate and was elected. She was re-elected to the 13th Lok Sabha
in 1999. During her election campaign, she was criticized by the women widowed in the Behmai massacre. Kshatriya Swabhimaan Andolan Samanvay Committee (KSASC), a Kshatriya
organization, held a statewide campaign to protest against her. In a 1999 interview, she stated that her political objectives included providing drinking water, electricity, schools and hospitals to the poor. She also emphasized on equal status for women, stressing on their education and employment.
During her career as a Member of the Indian Parliament, Phoolan got a train stopped at unscheduled stops to meet her acquaintances in Uttar Pradesh
. The railway minister, Ram Vilas Paswan
played down the train incident and ordered only a nominal enquiry. Once, she visited the Gwalior jail (where she was imprisoned) to meet her former inmates. When the jail officers didn't let her in due to the visiting hours rules, she abused them. Later, a suspension order was issued against the jail officials involved in the incident, without any explanation.
In 1998, Phoolan Devi claimed she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize
by some members of the British Parliament
. She lost a bid for reelection in 1998, but was returned to office the following year.
.
Sher Singh Rana, Dheeraj Rana, and Rajbir were accused of the crime. Sher Singh Rana allegedly surrendered in Dehradun
. He confessed to the murder, saying he was avenging the deaths of 22 Kshatriya
s at Behmai. He escaped from Tihar Jail
in 2004, but was captured in April 2006 from Kolkata
and sent to Rohini Jail, Delhi. The same year, the KSASC decided to honor Rana for "upholding the dignity of the Kshatriya community" and "drying the tears of the widows of Behmai".
On 19 January 2007, Balender Singh, Phoolan's bodyguard who had been witness to the shooting, identified Dheeraj and Sher Singh as the people who had fired on him and Phoolan respectively. Balender Singh was cross-examined on 2 February 2007.
Other sources
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. After being gang-raped by some upper-caste members of her gang, Phoolan Devi turned a bandit, and killed 22 upper-caste villagers in 1981. Following this, she became notorious across India as a bandit. Later, she surrendered and successfully contested election as a member of the Samajwadi Party
Samajwadi Party
Samajwadi Party is a political party in India. It is based in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It describes itself as a democratic socialist party...
. The 1994 film Bandit Queen
Bandit Queen
Bandit Queen is a 1994 Indian film based upon the life of Phoolan Devi. It was directed by Shekhar Kapur and starred Seema Biswas as the title character. It was produced by Bobby Bedi's Kaleidoscope Entertainment.The Music was Composed by Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.- Plot :The film opens in the...
was loosely based on her life.
Early life
Phoolan was born into the mallah (boatmen) casteCaste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
, in the small village of Ghura Ka Purwa (also spelled Gorha ka Purwa) in Jalaun District
Jalaun District
Jalaun District is a district of Uttar Pradesh state of India.The district is named after town of Jalaun, which was the former headquarters of a Maratha governor, but the administrative headquarters of the district is at Orai. Other large towns in the district are Kalpi, Konch, and...
, Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
. She was the fourth child of Devi Din and Moola.
Phoolan's father owned an acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
(0.4 hectare) of land with a huge neem tree
Neem
Azadirachta indica is a tree in the mahogany family Meliaceae. It is one of two species in the genus Azadirachta, and is native to India growing in tropical and semi-tropical regions. Its fruits and seeds are the source of neem oil...
on it. He hoped that the valuable timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
of the tree would enable him to pay dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
for his daughters' marriages. When Phoolan was eleven years old, her cousin Mayadin came to village and declared himself the head of the family. He sent workers to cut down the neem tree and sell the wood, intending to keep the proceeds for himself. Although her father submitted with mild protest, Phoolan confronted her cousin. She taunted him, publicly called him a thief and attacked him. With her elder sister, she staged a sit-in
Sit-in
A sit-in or sit-down is a form of protest that involves occupying seats or sitting down on the floor of an establishment.-Process:In a sit-in, protesters remain until they are evicted, usually by force, or arrested, or until their requests have been met...
on his land. Even after violence against Phoolan — knocking her out with a brick — she wouldn't relent. In an effort to rid himself of the little nuisance, Mayadin arranged to have her married to a man named Putti Lal, who lived several hundred miles away. Putti Lal was in his thirties; Phoolan was eleven. Devi claimed in her autobiography that he was a man of "very bad character".
Phoolan's husband raped and mistreated her, but that she was too young to know what was happening. She was returned to her village, being deemed too young to fulfill her duties as a wife. Three years later in 1977, she was returned back to Putti Lal's home. This time she protested, and was returned back to her father's home. A wife leaving her husband was a serious taboo in the rural areas, and Phoolan was marked as a social outcast. Phoolan continued to challenge her cousin Mayadin, accusing him of thievery. She took him to court for unlawfully holding her father's land, but lost the case.
In 1979, Mayadin accused Phoolan of stealing small items from his house, and arranged for her arrest by the police. During the three days in jail, she was beaten and raped by the authorities. She blamed her cousin for the injustice, and developed hatred for men who routinely denigrated women. When released from prison, she was further shunned by her village and her family.
As a dacoit
In 1979, a gang of dacoits abducted Phoolan; some also say that she was not kidnapped but "walked away from her life". The gang leader, Babu Gujjar, who was an upper-caste GujjarGujjar
The Gurjar are an ethnic group in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Alternative spellings include Gurjara, Gujar, Gurjjara and Gūrjara. The spelling Gurjara or Gurjar is preferable to the rest....
, wanted to rape her. However, she was protected by Vikram Mallah, the second-in-command of the gang who belonged to Phoolan's caste. One night when Baboo attempted to rape Phoolan, Vikram killed him and assumed the gang leadership. Phoolan became Vikram's second wife. The gang ransacked the village where Phoolan's husband lived. Phoolan stabbed her estranged husband, and dragged him in front of the villagers. The gang left him lying almost dead by the road, with a note as a warning for older men who marry young girls.
Phoolan Devi learned how to use a rifle from Vikram, and participated in the gang's activities across Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
. The activities consisted of ransacking high-caste villages, kidnapping upper-caste landowners for ransom
Ransom
Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or it can refer to the sum of money involved.In an early German law, a similar concept was called bad influence...
and train robberies. After every crime, Phoolan Devi would visit a Durga
Durga
For the 1985 Hindi Film of Rajesh Khanna see DurgaaIn Hinduism, Durga ; ; meaning "the inaccessible" or "the invincible"; , durga) or Maa Durga "one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress" is a form of Devi, the supremely radiant goddess, depicted as having eighteen arms, riding a lion...
temple and thank the goddess for her protection. The gang hid out in the Chambal ravine
Chambal River
The Chambal River is a tributary of the Yamuna River in central India, and forms part of the greater Gangetic drainage system. The river flows north-northeast through Madhya Pradesh, running for a time through Rajasthan, then forming the boundary between Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh before turning...
.
Behmai incidents
Sometime later, Shri Ram and Lala Ram, two upper-caste dacoit brothers belonging to the Thakur casteThakar (Rajput)
Thakar are a branch of Rajput caste found in present day Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab States of India.Among the Thakar Rajputs, there are clans like Herbols, Dhatwals, Indaruias, Nangles, Gumbaris, Ranes, Banials, Ranats, Mailes...
, returned to the gang. They were outraged by the killing of the gang leader by a low caste gang member. Shri Ram would make sexual advances towards Phoolan. This led to tensions between Shri Ram and Vikram, who made him apologize to Phoolan. When the gang would ransack a village, Shri Ram would beat and insult the Mallahs. This displeased the Mallahs in the gang, many of whom left the gang. When Shri Ram got a dozen Thakurs to join the gang, Vikram suggested the gang be divided into two, but Shri Ram refused. Shortly afterwards, Shri Ram and other Thakur members in the gang attempted to kill Phoolan and Vikram, who managed to escape. However, later they successfully killed Vikram, abducted Phoolan and locked her up in the Behmai village.
Phoolan Devi was beatend and raped by several men in Behmai. After three weeks, she managed to escape with two other Mallahs from Vikram's gang, helped by a low-caste villager. She gathered a gang of Mallahs, that she led with Man Singh, a member of Vikram's former gang. The gang carried out a series of violent robberies in north and central India, mainly targeting upper-caste people. Some say that Phoolan Devi targeted only the upper-caste people and shared the loot with the lower-caste people, but the Indian authorities insist this is a myth.
Seventeen months after her escape from Behmai, Phoolan returned to the village, to take her revenge. On 14 February 1981, Phoolan and her gang marched into the Behmai village, dressed as police officers. The Thakurs in the village were preparing for a wedding. Phoolan's gang demanded that her kidnappers be produced, along with all the valuables in the village. Details of what exactly happened are not available, but Phoolan is said to have recognized two men who earlier had sexually assaulted her and murdered her lover. When Phoolan's gang failed to find all the kidnappers after an exhaustive search, she ordered her gang members to line up all the upper-caste Thakur men in the village and shoot them. The dacoits opened fire and killed twenty-two Thakur men, most of whom were not involved in her kidnapping or rape. Later, Phoolan Devi claimed that she herself didn't kill anybody in Behmai – all the killings were carried out by her gang members.
The Behmai massacre was followed by a massive police manhunt that failed to locate Phoolan Devi. V. P. Singh
V. P. Singh
Vishwanath Pratap Singh was the seventh Prime Minister of India and the 41st Raja Bahadur of Manda.-Early life:...
, the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, resigned in the wake of the Behmai killings. Phoolan Devi began to be called the Bandit Queen. Dolls of Phoolan Devi dressed as Hindu goddess Durga
Durga
For the 1985 Hindi Film of Rajesh Khanna see DurgaaIn Hinduism, Durga ; ; meaning "the inaccessible" or "the invincible"; , durga) or Maa Durga "one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress" is a form of Devi, the supremely radiant goddess, depicted as having eighteen arms, riding a lion...
were sold in market towns in Uttar Pradesh. She was glorified by much of the Indian media.
Surrender and jail term
Two years after the Behmai massacre the police had still not captured Phoolan Devi. The Indira GandhiIndira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
Government decided to negotiate a surrender. By this time, Phoolan Devi was in poor health and most of her gang members were dead. In February 1983, she agreed to surrender to the authorities. However, she said that she didn't trust the Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
police and insisted that she would only surrender to the Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
Police. She also insisted that she would lay down her arms only before Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
's picture and the Hindu goddess Durga
Durga
For the 1985 Hindi Film of Rajesh Khanna see DurgaaIn Hinduism, Durga ; ; meaning "the inaccessible" or "the invincible"; , durga) or Maa Durga "one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress" is a form of Devi, the supremely radiant goddess, depicted as having eighteen arms, riding a lion...
, not to the police. She also required the following conditions:
- She would not get the death penalty
- Her gang members should not get more than eight years in jail
- Her brother should be given a government job
- Her father should receive a plot of land
- Her entire family should be escorted by the police to her surrender ceremony
An unarmed police chief met her at a hiding place in the Chambal ravines. They walked their way to Bhind
Bhind
Bhind is a town in Bhind District, Madhya Pradesh, India.The chhatri of Malhar Rao Holkar at Alampur is great archaeology chhatri in Bhind district-Demographics:...
, where she laid her rifle before the portraits of Gandhi and Goddess Durga. The onlookers included a crowd of around 10,000 people and 300 police and the then chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Arjun Singh
Arjun Singh
Arjun Singh was an Indian politician from the Indian National Congress party. He was the Union Minister of Human Resource Development in the Manmohan Singh cabinet from 2004 to 2009....
. 300 police personnel were waiting to arrest her and other members of her gang who surrendered at the same time.
Phoolan Devi was charged with 48 crimes, including 30 charges of dacoity (banditry) and kidnapping. Her trial was delayed for 11 years, which she served in the prison. During this period, she was operated on for ovarian cyst
Ovarian cyst
An ovarian cyst is any collection of fluid, surrounded by a very thin wall, within an ovary. Any ovarian follicle that is larger than about two centimeters is termed an ovarian cyst. An ovarian cyst can be as small as a pea, or larger than an orange....
s and ended up with an involuntary hysterectomy
Hysterectomy
A hysterectomy is the surgical removal of the uterus, usually performed by a gynecologist. Hysterectomy may be total or partial...
. She was finally released on parole in 1994 after persuasion by Vishambhar Prasad Nishad, the leader of the Nishadha
Nishadha
Nishadha were scattered peoples, according to sources in Hindu mythology. The Nishadha people have been described in Ramayana and Mahabharata.-Description in Ramayana:The main profession of Nishaadas was hunting birds...
fishermen community. The Government of Uttar Pradesh, led by Mulayam Singh Yadav
Mulayam Singh Yadav
Mulayam Singh Yadav in Hindi मुलायम सिंह यादव is an Indian politician and has influence mainly in Uttar Pradesh state of India...
, withdrew all the cases against her.
Movie and autobiography
Shekhar KapurShekhar Kapur
Shekhar Kapur is an Indian film director and producer. A critically acclaimed director, he rose to popularity with the movie Bandit Queen...
made a movie Bandit Queen
Bandit Queen
Bandit Queen is a 1994 Indian film based upon the life of Phoolan Devi. It was directed by Shekhar Kapur and starred Seema Biswas as the title character. It was produced by Bobby Bedi's Kaleidoscope Entertainment.The Music was Composed by Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.- Plot :The film opens in the...
(1994) about Phoolan Devi's life up to her 1983 surrender, based on Mala Sen's India’s Bandit Queen: The True Story of Phoolan Devi. Although Phoolan Devi is a heroine in the film, she fiercely disputed its accuracy and fought to get it banned in India. She even threatened to immolate
Self-immolation
Self-immolation refers to setting oneself on fire, often as a form of protest or for the purposes of martyrdom or suicide. It has centuries-long traditions in some cultures, while in modern times it has become a type of radical political protest...
herself outside a theater if the film were not withdrawn. Eventually, she withdrew her objections after the producer Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
paid her £40,000. The film brought her international recognition. Author-activist Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy is an Indian novelist. She won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel, The God of Small Things, and has also written two screenplays and several collections of essays...
in her film review titled, 'The Great Indian Rape Trick', questioned the right to "restage the rape of a living woman without her permission," and charged Shekhar Kapur with exploiting Phoolan Devi and misrepresenting both her life and its meaning.
Though she was illiterate, Phoolan composed her autobiography titled The Bandit Queen of India: An Indian Woman's Amazing Journey From Peasant to International Legend, with help of two international authors, Marie-Therese Cuny and Paul Rambali.
Political career
In the 1990s, Phoolan Devi served as the president of Eklavya Sena, an organization formed by the Bharatiya Janata PartyBharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...
leader Ganga Charan Rajput to "protect the weaker sections". Under Phoolan's leadership, the group aimed at teaching lower-caste people the art of self-defense. During this period, Phoolan married Umaid Singh, her sister's husband and a New Delhi business contractor.
In 1996, Phoolan Devi contested for the 11th Lok Sabha
11th Lok Sabha
List of Members of the 11th Lok Sabha, elected during Indian general election, 1996 held during April-May 1996. The Lok Sabha is the lower house in the Parliament of India.-Important members:* Speaker:...
from Mirzapur
Mirzapur (Lok Sabha constituency)
Mirzapur Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 80 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh state in northern India. This constituency covers the entire Mirzapur district.-Assembly segments:...
in Uttar Pradesh as a Samajwadi Party
Samajwadi Party
Samajwadi Party is a political party in India. It is based in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It describes itself as a democratic socialist party...
candidate and was elected. She was re-elected to the 13th Lok Sabha
13th Lok Sabha
The 13th Lok Sabha is the thirteenth session of the Lok Sabha...
in 1999. During her election campaign, she was criticized by the women widowed in the Behmai massacre. Kshatriya Swabhimaan Andolan Samanvay Committee (KSASC), a Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
organization, held a statewide campaign to protest against her. In a 1999 interview, she stated that her political objectives included providing drinking water, electricity, schools and hospitals to the poor. She also emphasized on equal status for women, stressing on their education and employment.
During her career as a Member of the Indian Parliament, Phoolan got a train stopped at unscheduled stops to meet her acquaintances in Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
. The railway minister, Ram Vilas Paswan
Ram Vilas Paswan
Ram Vilas Paswan is the president of the Lok Janshakti Party and a Rajya Sabha MP.-Early life and education:Paswan was born to a Dusadh family...
played down the train incident and ordered only a nominal enquiry. Once, she visited the Gwalior jail (where she was imprisoned) to meet her former inmates. When the jail officers didn't let her in due to the visiting hours rules, she abused them. Later, a suspension order was issued against the jail officials involved in the incident, without any explanation.
In 1998, Phoolan Devi claimed she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
by some members of the British Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
. She lost a bid for reelection in 1998, but was returned to office the following year.
Assassination
On 25 July 2001, Phoolan Devi was fatally shot as she got out of her car at the gate of her New Delhi residence. The assailants also wounded her bodyguard and escaped in an auto rickshawAuto rickshaw
An auto rickshaw or three-wheeler is a usually three-wheeled cabin cycle for private use and as a vehicle for hire. It is a motorized version of the traditional pulled rickshaw or cycle rickshaw...
.
Sher Singh Rana, Dheeraj Rana, and Rajbir were accused of the crime. Sher Singh Rana allegedly surrendered in Dehradun
Dehradun
- Geography :The Dehradun district has various types of physical geography from Himalayan mountains to Plains. Raiwala is the lowest point at 315 meters above sea level, and the highest points are within the Tiuni hills, rising to 3700 m above sea level...
. He confessed to the murder, saying he was avenging the deaths of 22 Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
s at Behmai. He escaped from Tihar Jail
Tihar Jail
Tihar Prisons , also called Tihar Jail and Tihar Ashram , is the largest complex of prisons in South Asia. It is located at Tihar village, approximately 7 km from Chanakya Puri, to the west of New Delhi, India. The surrounding area is called Hari Nagar.The prison is maintained as a...
in 2004, but was captured in April 2006 from Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
and sent to Rohini Jail, Delhi. The same year, the KSASC decided to honor Rana for "upholding the dignity of the Kshatriya community" and "drying the tears of the widows of Behmai".
On 19 January 2007, Balender Singh, Phoolan's bodyguard who had been witness to the shooting, identified Dheeraj and Sher Singh as the people who had fired on him and Phoolan respectively. Balender Singh was cross-examined on 2 February 2007.
Further reading
Books on Phoolan Devi- Devi: The Bandit Queen, by Richard Shears, Isobelle Gidley. Published by Allen & Unwin, 1984. ISBN 0049200976.
- India's Bandit Queen: The True Story of Phoolan Devi, by Mala Sen. Published by HarperCollins Publishers, 1993. ISBN 0-04-440888-9.
- I, Phoolan Devi: The Autobiography of India's Bandit Queen, by Phoolan Devi, Marie-Thérèse Cuny, Paul Rambali. Published by Little, Brown and Co., 1996. ISBN 0316879606.
- Phoolan Devi, with Marie-Therese Cuny, and Paul Rambali, "The Bandit Queen of India: An Indian Woman's Amazing Journey from Peasant to International Legend" Guilford, Connecticut: The Lyons Press, 2006 ISBN 978-1-59228-641-6
- Phoolan Devi - by N.Pugazhendhi, Coimbatore in TAMIL translated from Malayalam.
Other sources
- Gabriel, Karen (2009). "Reading Rape: Sexual Difference, Representational Excess and Narrative Containment. pp. 9-16.
- India's Bandit Queen by Mary Anne Weaver
- Peacock, J. Sunita Phoolan Devi: The Primordial Tradition of the Bandit Queen. in: Transnationalism and the Asian American Heroine: Essays on Literature, Film, Myth and Media. pp. 187-195.
External links
- A collection of links related to Phoolan Devi (the page is quite old, and many of the links are broken).
- Biography in short
- The Phoolan Devi Murder
- Crime Library article on Phoolan Devi