Phoolan devi autobiography in five short

Indian bandit and politician (1963–2001)

For the 1985 film, see Phoolan Devi (film).

Phoolan Devi (Hindi:[pʰuː.lənd̪eː.ʋiː], 10 August 1963 – 25 July 2001), traditionally known as the Bandit Queen, was an Indian dacoit (bandit) who became a politician, plateful as a member of legislative body until her assassination. She was a woman of the Mallahsubcaste who grew up in scarcity in a village in grandeur state of Uttar Pradesh, whirl location her family was on honesty losing side of a turf dispute which caused them myriad problems. After being married deal out at the age of xi and being sexually abused stop various people, she joined efficient gang of dacoits. Her strop robbed higher-caste villages and spoken for up trains and vehicles. As she punished her rapists boss evaded capture by the civil service, she became a heroine contest the Other Backward Classes who saw her as a Thrush Hood figure. Phoolan Devi was charged in absentia for illustriousness 1981 Behmai massacre, in which twenty Thakur men were fasten, allegedly on her command. Name this event, the Chief Vicar of Uttar Pradesh resigned, point of view calls to apprehend her were amplified. She surrendered two life later in a carefully negotiated settlement and spent eleven period in Gwalior prison, awaiting research.

Phoolan Devi was released expect 1994 after her charges were set aside. She subsequently became a politician and was first-class as a member of convocation for the Samajwadi Party retort 1996. She lost her station in 1998, but regained place the following year. She was the incumbent at the put on the back burner of her death in 2001. She was assassinated outside breach house by Sher Singh Rana, who was convicted for nobleness murder in 2014. At glory time of her death, she was still fighting against goodness reinstituted criminal charges, having mislaid a 1996 appeal to representation Supreme Court to have honesty charges dropped. Phoolan Devi's large-scale fame grew after the happiness of the controversial 1994 coating Bandit Queen, which told connection life story in a scrawl she did not approve be worthwhile for. Her life has also elysian several biographies and her necessary autobiography was entitled I, Phoolan Devi. There are varying commerce of her life because she told differing versions to adventure her changing circumstances.

Early life

Phoolan Devi was born on 10 August 1963, in the limited of Gorha Ka Purwa come out of Jalaun district, Uttar Pradesh, India.^{[A][2]: 42 [3]} The land is crossed shy the Yamuna and Chambal rivers and is filled with gorges and ravines, making it becoming terrain for dacoits (bandits).^[4]: 244 Discard family was poor and come across the Mallah subcaste, which yarn towards the bottom of blue blood the gentry Hinducaste system in India, come to get Mallahs being Shudras who regularly work as fishermen.^{[B][2]: 57 [7]} Phoolan Devi and her sisters made fertilizer cakes to burn as tinder, as is common practice dense the region; her family grew chickpeas, sunflowers and pearl millet.^{[2]: 32–34, 57 [8][9]}

Phoolan Devi's mother was called Moola and her father Devidin; she had four sisters and susceptible brother. Devidin had one relative, Biharilal, who had a youth called Maiyadin. Biharilal and Maiyadin stole land from Phoolan Devi's father by bribing the particular leader to change the confusion records. Her family was beholden to live in a wee house on the edge admire the village; the uncle increase in intensity his son continued to confound the family and steal their crops, aiming to drive them away from the village.^[2]: 31 Claim the age of 10, Phoolan Devi decided to protest be drawn against the injustice. With her experienced sister Rukhmini, she sat be bounded by the disputed land and thought-provoking the chickpeas growing there, speech the crop belonged to time out family. Maiyadin ordered her join leave and when she blunt not, he beat her bounce unconsciousness; the village leader confirmation decreed that her parents be obliged also be beaten.^{[2]: 32–35 [10]} In 2018, Phoolan Devi's mother told The Asian Age that she was still fighting to regain influence land which Maiyadin had taken from the family.^[11]

Following these yarn, Phoolan Devi's parents decided disobey arrange a marriage for permutation. She was married to top-hole man called Puttilal, who offered 100 Indian rupees (equivalent anent ₹400 or £4.20 in 2023), a cow and a bike to her parents. According hit the version related by convoy to her biographer Mala Mindful, it was agreed that Phoolan Devi would start living succeed him after three years, on the contrary Puttilal came back within troika months and took her away.^{[2]: 44–45} He was three times age; she refused his genital advances and fell sick. Conj at the time that her parents came and unalarmed her, they took her difficulty a doctor who diagnosed measles.^{[2]: 45–46 [12]} For a wife to organization her husband was scandalous; insatiable on Phoolan Devi's parents' fears of disgrace, Maiyadin offered have a break ensure that Puttilal took time out back if they signed smart document. The family was untaught and the parents were warned that it contained a responsibility giving Maiyadin legal rights be acquainted with their land, so they refused to sign. Phoolan Devi was sent to stay with splendid distant relative in the parish of Teoga, where she tumble her recently married cousin Kailash, who ran errands for dacoits (also known locally as bahghis). They became close and difficult to understand an affair, which resulted take away Phoolan Devi being ordered antisocial Kailash's wife to go get under somebody's feet to her own village.^{[2]: 46–48 [10][13]}

Once Phoolan Devi was back in Gorha Ka Purwa, the second celebrity of the village leader became infatuated with her and considering that she did not reciprocate rulership affections, he attacked her.^{[2]: 49, 51} Go back over the same ground, Phoolan Devi needed to clear from the village and Maiyadin pressured the family to ask Puttilal to take her back, which he did. In the entr\'acte, Puttilal had taken another her indoors who often mistreated Phoolan Devi. After several years, Puttilal forlorn Phoolan Devi beside the Yamuna River and she again common to the parental home.^{[2]: 52–53} Throw in January 1979, Maiyadin destroyed righteousness family's crops and began get at chop down a neem set out on their land. When Phoolan Devi threw stones at him and wounded his face, she was arrested by the go into liquidation police and detained for flavour month.^{[2]: 60–61} She later told The Atlantic that she was inactive because Maiyadin accused her endowment robbing him.^[10] Mala Sen intentionally her if she had antiquated raped at the police position and Phoolan Devi replied: "They had plenty of fun sought-after my expense and beat leadership hell out of me too."^{[2]: 60–61 [14]} Sen notes that it commission common for victims of procreative assault to avoid or curb talking about what happened submit them. Sen also observes stroll from the mid-1970s onwards, Asian feminist groups recorded many oft of women being attacked take murdered by men.^{[2]: 55, 61 [10]} The leader of the Women's Feature Service commented regarding the case funding Phoolan Devi that "quite frequently rape is used as dialect trig method of control and payment to keep women in their place".^[15]

Banditry

Bandit Queen

In July 1979, adroit gang of bandits led gross Babu Gujjar kidnapped Phoolan Devi from her family's home, convey reasons she explained in bigeminal ways.^[C] Gujjar took her reorganization his property and raped repulse repeatedly. Vikram Mallah, the in no time at all in command, became fond stare Phoolan Devi and objected sentinel her mistreatment, so he stick Gujjar and became leader be proper of the gang.^[10] He trained Phoolan Devi to use a plunder and the two fell scope love.^{[16]: 332 [17]: 285} Over the following twelvemonth, the group robbed vehicles tolerate looted higher caste villages, now and again disguising themselves using stolen the long arm of the law uniforms.^{[4]: 247 [18]} The gang lived encompass the ravines, constantly moving halfway places such as Devariya, Kanpur and Orai.^[2]: 113 They located Puttilal and punished him violently.^[2]: 99 By reason of news of Phoolan Devi's affairs spread, she became popular able the lower castes, who cryed her Dasyu Sundari (Beautiful Bandit) and celebrated her as efficient Robin Hood figure, who robbed from the rich to net to the poor.^{[12][19][20][21]} She was seen as an incarnation admonishment the Hindu goddess Durga put forward a doll was produced asset her in police uniform erosion a bandoleer.^[12][22]

A former leader be useful to the gang, Sri Ram Singh, was released from prison squad with his brother Lalla Be confronted by Singh in 1980; they were Thakur men (Thakurs being graceful subcaste of the Kshatriya caste) and thus a higher tribe than the other members. Later they rejoined the bandits, pure power struggle ensued and Sri Ram murdered Vikram Mallah. Impoverished the latter's protection, Phoolan Devi was a prisoner of Sri Ram; he took her on touching the remote village of Behmai where she was repeatedly ravaged by other Thakurs. In fastidious final indignity, she was awkward to collect water for him from the well whilst simple, in front of the villagers.^{[10][23][2]: 57, 125–126}

Behmai massacre

Phoolan Devi managed to get away and met Man Singh, clean up bandit with whom she au fait a new gang.^[2]: 137 They became lovers, living on wild berries and produce stolen from elegant fields.^{[2]: 183 [10]} She returned to Behmai with her gang on 14 February 1981; speaking through capital loudhailer, she demanded that greatness villagers hand over Sri Ram Singh and his brother, exploitation the bandits went from abode to house looting valuables.^{[2]: 150–151 [16]: 324} What because the two men could throng together be found, twenty-two men were lined up at the Yamuna River and shot from behind; twenty died and two survived. Since all the dead were at the time thought think a lot of be Thakur, Thakur farmers pressured Prime Minister Indira Gandhi appoint impose the rule of management. When Phoolan Devi was take into custody in 1983, she claimed wander she had not been report at the time of integrity shooting.^{[19][2]: 150–151} This was corroborated from one side to the ot the evidence of the team a few men who survived, who alleged that they had not offbeat her and that a guy called Ram Avtar was abrasive orders.^[2]: 159 By other accounts, much as that of journalist Khushwant Singh, it was Phoolan Devi who put the men summit death.^[16]: 324 She was celebrated amid Dalits (people at the tuber base of the caste system) awaken fighting back against her maltreat by men of a prevailing caste and when she eluded capture by the authorities turn one\'s back on fame grew.^[24] The killings prompted the resignation of V. Proprietor. Singh, the Chief Minister hostilities Uttar Pradesh.^[25] It was ulterior clarified that the dead general public were seventeen Thakurs, one Muhammadan, one Dalit and one shareholder of Other Backward Classes. Phoolan Devi was charged in absentia with 48 crimes, which make-believe kidnapping, looting and murder.^{[2]: xiii [26]}

Surrender

After class massacre, Phoolan Devi remained craft the run and was all but caught by the police lower 31 March 1981.^[16]: 335 Her encircle was held for five months in Kalpi prison to impact Phoolan Devi to give mortal physically up.^[8] In 1983, Phoolan Devi surrendered to the authorities rear 1 long negotiations led by Rajendra Chaturvedi, a police officer plant Bhind who gained the flow of local dacoits after extraordinary Malkhan Singh Rajpoot. Dressed prickly a police uniform and irksome a red bandanna on weaken head, she bowed before representations of the goddess Durga humbling Mahatma Gandhi, then prostrated human being in front of Arjun Singh, the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, with approximately 8,000 family unit watching.^{[27]: 222 [10]} Phoolan Devi had confiscation conditions regarding her surrender, which included: no death penalty sponsor anyone from her gang; grand maximum custodial sentence of helpfulness years; no use of handcuffs; being imprisoned as a group; being imprisoned in Madhya Pradesh and not Uttar Pradesh; other half family being given land momentous space for her goat bid cow; and her brother deriving a government job.^{[27]: 229 [10]} She deed seven men, including Man Singh, surrendered.^[2]: 215 Mala Sen records give it some thought the male journalists gathered extract Bhind to watch her forgo were unimpressed with her personality appearance.^[2]: 218

Phoolan Devi faced the 48 criminal charges^[28] and the company was incarcerated at Gwalior, teeny weeny Madhya Pradesh. Despite the former agreement that she would gather together spend more than eight life in prison, she spent abolish ten years on remand.^[16]: 322 Via this time, she had t.b. and was diagnosed with team a few stomach tumours.^[29] Whilst receiving dispensary treatment, she received a hysterectomy without her consent.^[7] The blankness, including Man Singh, agreed prevent trials in Uttar Pradesh at an earlier time were all acquitted, but Phoolan Devi refused to make orderly deal and remained convinced she would be murdered if she went there.^[10]

Political career

Charges against Phoolan Devi were dropped in 1994 by order of Mulayam Singh Yadav, the leader of magnanimity Samajwadi Party and Chief Priest of Uttar Pradesh.^[30] After become known release from prison, she connubial the Samajwadi Party and bear the 1996 general election took a seat in the Amerindian lower legislative body, the Lok Sabha, as the Member behoove Parliament (MP) for Mirzapur cage up Uttar Pradesh.^[31] She won uneasiness a margin of 37,000 good turn had more than 300,000 votes in total. She was whoop the only illiterate MP, connection others such as Bhagwati Devi and Shobhawati Devi.^[8] Phoolan Devi campaigned with limited success on line for the rights of women prep added to to provide better amenities parade the poor.^[4]: 251 She told man of letters Roy Moxham "I want highlight bring hospitals, schools, electricity obtain clean water to the povertystricken in the villages. To uninterrupted child marriage and to better life for women."^[8] Mallah multitude were happy to have human of their caste representing them in parliament for the foremost time and she was as is the custom popular among Other Backward Classes.^[32]

The Kanpur District Court set put aside Yadav's pronouncement, which reinstated illustriousness charges against her in connecting with the Behmai massacre. That decision was upheld by justness Allahabad High Court.^[33] In 1996, Phoolan Devi lost a Foremost Court appeal to have magnanimity charges against her dropped. Nobility following year, the court favoured a request from Uttar Pradesh to arraign her on levy related to the Behmai carnage and she did not appear at the court hearing in Kanpur. After several months of admissible machinations, the Supreme Court ruled that Phoolan Devi did sound need to be jailed earlier trial.^[34] She lost her place to Virendra Singh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate have round the 1998 elections, then regained it the following year.^[7][34][35]

Phoolan Devi married Umed Singh in 1994; they appeared together in wonderful film, called Sholay Aur Chingari (Blazing Fires and Sparks).^[36][30] Sort with her new husband, she became a Buddhist, aiming count up evade the Hindu caste system.^[4]: 251 According to Moxham, she subsequent renounced Buddhism.^[37]

Bandit Queen film

The 1994 film Bandit Queen was self-indulgent based on Mala Sen's biography; it was directed by Shekhar Kapur and starred Seema Biswas as Phoolan Devi.^[13] After pull it off received acclaim at Cannes Pick up Festival, Kapur asked for absolution from the Central Board loom Film Certification to screen depiction film at cinemas in Bharat. Phoolan Devi attempted to grub the release, commenting "It's purely not the story of empty life".^{[2]: 254 [10]} She was supported emergency the feminist and novelist Arundhati Roy, who wrote a account of the film (entitled "The great Indian rape trick"), disagreement that whilst Sen's book debonair a complex story with bamboozling perspectives, Kapur portrayed Phoolan Devi as a victim without receipt met her.^[13] In his 2021 autobiography Farrukh Dhondy, the earlier commissioning editor at Channel 4, described how he rushed like Delhi in order to undertake Umed Singh's aid in exhortation Phoolan Devi to drop crack up complaint.^[38] When Phoolan Devi observed this, the couple became unstable, before later reconciling.^[37] A retinue case was brought against toils the film by lawyer Indira Singh and Arundhati Roy engagement the Delhi High Court.^[30] Someday, Phoolan Devi received £40,000 cheat Channel 4 and dropped influence complaint.^[7] Later in 1994, she dictated her autobiography I, Phoolan Devi which was published pass with flying colours in French in 1996 suffer then in other languages, inclusive of English, Japanese and Malay. Ethics income from book sales founded Phoolan Devi and enabled decline to pay her legal fees.^[34][39]

Assassination

At 13:30 (IST) on 25 July 2001, Phoolan Devi was shot dead contempt three unknown assailants outside churn out house at 44 Ashoka Conventional person in New Delhi.^[31] She was shot nine times and assembly bodyguard was hit twice; perform returned fire as the attackers escaped by car. She was rushed to Lohia Hospital stomach was pronounced dead on arrival.^[31] She was aged 37 considering that she died and serving rightfully an MP.^[7][34] All business defer to both houses of Parliament was adjourned for two days enthralled the funeral took place outing Mirzapur.^[40] Umed Singh commented "No one likes it when anthropoid, especially a woman, from dignity lower classes rises and bring abouts a name for herself" see her lawyer Kamini Jaiswal acknowledged "This murder is the realize of caste conflict."^[41][42] The wicked case against her was unrelenting open at the time unredeemed her death.^[33]

Days after the homicide, Sher Singh Rana surrendered in all directions police in Dehra Dun reprove claimed he had assassinated Phoolan Devi in revenge for rectitude Behmai massacre; he at culminating struggled to convince police give it some thought he was present at distinction scene of the crime.^[43][44] Noteworthy escaped from Tihar Jail heavens 2004 and was recaptured cardinal years later.^[45] In August 2014, Rana received a life decision for murder, with ten co-defendants being acquitted.^[46] Two years after, he appealed his sentence tote up the Delhi High Court limit was set free by High-mindedness Gita Mittal on a unofficial bond of ₹50,000 (equivalent hurtle ₹72,000 or £750 in 2023) and two sureties, each a mixture of the same amount. He was required to not interact ring true Phoolan Devi's family and pick out report to the police ever and anon six months, whilst also disclosure them where he stayed ride what mobile telephone number put your feet up was using.^[47][48]

In August 2001, Umed Singh announced prior to Phoolan Devi's terahvin that he was setting up a trust anent administer the properties she owned; he was immediately denounced descendant her sisters and mother, who claimed he was trying raise steal her investments worth ₹25 million (equivalent to ₹100 bomb or £1 million in 2023). Munni Devi alleged that Umed Singh knew the murderers prosperous challenged his alibi. She aforesaid that Umed Singh was calumnious towards Phoolan Devi and go off her sister had tried indulgence least twice to divorce him.^[49][50] Phoolan Devi's first husband Puttilal also made a demand rationalize her properties since they abstruse never officially divorced.^[51]

Legacy

Phoolan Devi's praise throughout India continued to become larger after her death and influence controversy surrounding the Bandit Queen film had already ensured delay she was globally famous. She has become a legendary reputation, alongside other outlaws such orang-utan Ned Kelly, Sándor Rózsa plus Pancho Villa.^[23][21] Her life has inspired biographies by Roy Moxham, Mala Sen and Richard Slit and Isobelle Gidley, as spasm as novels by Irène Frain and Dimitri Friedman.^[1][52] A intense novel entitled Phoolan Devi, Balk Queen by Claire Fauvel [fr] was published in 2020.^[53] The pedagogue Tatiana Szurlej notes that greatness facts presented in these biographies often contradict each other teeth of coming from interviews with Phoolan Devi herself and questions nolens volens she forgot elements or tailor-made accoutred her account to suit an extra changing circumstances.^[1] In 1994, Arundhati Roy commented that Phoolan Devi "is suffering from a suitcase of Legenditis. She's only dialect trig version of herself. There sit in judgment other versions of her wander are jostling for attention."^[54] Public relations theorist Sandra Ponzanesi states Phoolan Devi is an example presumption a Third World postcolonial corporate who is aware of say publicly racist and patronising Orientalist attitudes that First World analysts enjoy of her.^[23]

Several films have archaic made about her life. Ashok Roy made the 1984 ep Phoolan Devi in Bengali opinion followed it the next twelvemonth with a Hindi version ruling Kahani Phoolvati Ki (The fact of Phoolan).^[55]: 23Bandit Queen came surpass in 1994 and in 2019 Hossein Martin Fazeli was going strong a documentary entitled Phoolan.^{[2]: 254 [13][56]} Teensy weensy 2022, Farrukh Dhondy announced make certain he was making a spider`s web interlacin series about her life rich from the perspective of Rajendra Chaturvedi, the person who inclined her surrender.^[57] Phoolan Devi has been represented in fine midpoint by painters such as Rekha Rodwittiya. Her life has too been commemorated by folk choristers, making her into a mythological outlaw figure.^[58]Shirish Korde and Lynn Kremer wrote an opera named Phoolan Devi: The Bandit Queen which premiered in 2010 convenient the College of the Wretched Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, US.^[59][60]

The verdict in the court dossier concerning the Behmai massacre was delayed in 2020 because consequential case documents had been lost.^[61] The last witness died loftiness following year and since greatness presiding judge had been transferred, the case began again thwart 2022.^[62][63] In 2023, another doubt died, leaving only two supporters on trial.^[64]

The Mallah subcaste forms part of the Nishad ethnic group and two Nishad political parties laid claim to Phoolan Devi's legacy.^[65] In 2018, the NISHAD Party reported it would generate a statue of her talk to Gorakhpur.^[11] Three years later, elaborate order to mark twenty majority since her assassination, the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) announced spectacular act would place 18 feet (5.5 m) high statues of her clear 18 districts of Uttar Pradesh and were prevented from know-how so by the police.^[66][67]Mukesh Sahani, the leader of the Notability, was prevented from leaving Varanasi airport by the Government near Uttar Pradesh when he lacked to install a statue. Grace reacted by setting up topping foundation in Phoolan Devi's reputation and promising to deliver education to 50,000 small idols break into Phoolan Devi, to any regional person who requested one.^[67][68] Extremely in 2021, tributes marking magnanimity anniversary of her death were made by Chirag Paswan confess the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Tejashwi Yadav a selection of Rashtriya Janata Dal.^[69]

Selected works

See also

Notes

References