PHOOLAN DEVI (10 August 1963–25 July 2001), low-caste Indian dacoit (bandit) and politician whose criminal exploits targeting the rich riveted the nation and brutally laid bare the fault lines of the Indian caste system.
Born into the Mallah subcaste, one of the lowest in the caste hierarchy, Phoolan faced discrimination and marginalization from an early age. Her “untouchable” family lived in the village of Gorha Ka Purwa, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Phoolan’s early life was marked by deprivation and hardship owing both to her gender and her family’s poverty. She was married off at the age of eleven to a much older man in an arranged marriage, a prevalent practice in many parts of rural India. Phoolan’s parents received one hundred rupees, a cow, and a bicycle in exchange for their daughter. Phoolan was abused by her husband and returned home after several years.
Her life took a drastic turn when she was abducted by a gang of dacoits led by one Babu Gujjar. She endured weeks of captivity and sexual abuse before eventually joining the gang. In the rugged terrain of the Chambal Valley, notorious for its lawlessness, Phoolan found herself thrust into a violent world in which survival often depended on one’s ability to outwit and outgun one’s adversaries. The bandits frequently looted higher-caste villages, and Phoolan soon developed a Robin Hood–like reputation in the surrounding lower-caste communities along with nicknames like “Beautiful Bandit” and “Bandit Queen.” Phoolan rose through the gang’s ranks, eventually becoming its leader after Babu Gujjar’s death. Under her command the gang carried out a series of daring robberies and raids, striking fear into the hearts of the wealthy and powerful. Phoolan’s actions were seen as more than mere acts of criminality, rather as a form of rebellion against the oppressive social and gender order that had condemned her to a life of poverty
and servitude.
The most notorious incident from Phoolan’s years as leader of the dacoits occurred in 1981 when her gang stormed the village of Behmai and allegedly massacred 22 Thakurs, a higher-caste community. As her gang plundered the village Phoolan is said to have identified two men who had previously sexually assaulted her and ordered that they be killed. The incident catapulted her to national attention: the media described it as the largest massacre in dacoit history and portrayed Phoolan both as a ruthless outlaw and a symbol of resistance against upper-caste oppression. Phoolan’s new status as a folk hero among the oppressed Dalits (formerly known as untouchables) and lower castes only intensified the efforts of law enforcement to capture her. Police organized a manhunt involving thousands of men and helicopters, to no avail.
In 1983, after the state promised to drop its charges against her fellow gang members in return, Phoolan surrendered to the authorities. Though the typical punishment for crimes such as hers would have been death by hanging, she was able to negotiate a deal with the Indian government to serve a prison sentence instead. Phoolan was twenty-one when she entered prison.
In 1994, after eleven years of incarceration, Phoolan was released on orders of the new home minister, Malayalam Singh Yadav, himself from a lower caste. All charges against her were dropped and the minister invited her to join his ruling Samajwadi Party. At Yadav’s urging,
Phoolan entered politics, winning a seat in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s Parliament, in 1996. Yadav’s support of Phoolan has been interpreted as purely strategic, a play for the eighty-five percent of Indian voters who are low-caste and illiterate and who would likely support a party that had the “Bandit Queen” for a member. Phoolan’s tenure as a politician was marked by advocacy for the rights of women, Dalits, and other marginalized groups.
In 2001 thirty-eight-year-old Phoolan was assassinated outside her residence in New Delhi by a man named Sher Singh Rana. Rana was likely paid to commit the murder by a group of Thakur men who sought to avenge the 1981 massacre. Phoolan’s death sent shockwaves across the country, and she was mourned by millions who saw her as a symbol of courage and defiance in the face of adversity and injustice. Phoolan Devi’s life remains a testament to the indomitable spirit of those who refuse to be bound by the chains of caste, gender, or societal expectations.