Editor's Pick

ON 19 FEBRUARY 1994, Phoolan Devi steps out of a jail van at the Tis Hazari court in New Delhi, after her release. Popularly known as the “bandit queen,” Phoolan was one of India’s most famous outlaws and came to be seen as a symbol of resistance against caste and patriarchal oppression. She grew up in poverty in a Mallah family in a Thakur-dominated village in Gorha Ka Purwah, Uttar Pradesh. Her relationship with her family was volatile, and she was married off at the age of 11 to a much older man. She faced sexual abuse and caste discrimination in her village before eventually joining a bandit gang in the ravines of Chambal.

She was abducted and raped by Thakur men from the same bandit gang, in the village of Behmai, in 1980. She escaped, joined a new gang, and stormed Behmai the next year, killing at least twenty Thakur men in revenge. This event made her a legend among the oppressed but also India’s most wanted fugitive. After years on the run, she surrendered in 1983, under carefully negotiated terms with the Madhya Pradesh government.

After spending eleven years in prison without trial, Phoolan was released in 1994 by the Mulayam Singh government. She then entered politics, joining the Samajwadi Party and winning a seat in the Lok Sabha in 1996 and 1999. Her life was cut short on 25 July 2001, when she was assassinated outside her Delhi residence. Sher Singh Rana, who was convicted of her murder along with two others, claimed he was avenging her actions against Thakurs. Phoolan Devi’s complex and eventful life has been the subject of several articles, books and films.