RAJIV GANDHI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF LAW

PATIALA, PUNJAB

I, PHOOLAN DEVI
ENGLISH

SUBMITTED TO SUBMITTED BY

DR. NAVLEEN MULTANI VISHAL KUMAR

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF 17157

ENGLISH GROUP: - 24
TABLE OF CONTENTS

 INTRODUCTION
 ASSESMENT
 CHILDHOOD AND EARLY LIFE
 HER MARRIED LIFE
 BANDIT LIFE
 BEHMAI GANGRAPE AND HER REVENGE
 PHOOLAN DEVI SURRENDER AND HER
LIFE IN PRISON
 CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION

Phoolan Devi popularly known as the bandit queen was born on 10th of August, 1963.
She was born in a small village named Gorha Ka Purwa which is situated on the bank
of sacred river Yamuna in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Her father was a poor Mallah. She
was born in a family where girls were considered as to be a burden. Being a low caste
and poor her family was used to be mistreated by the richer and the upper caste people
of her village. Like every lower caste girl, Phoolan also had to work for the upper caste
land owning families. She was second among her 5 siblings. Till the age of ten her life
was like any other normal girl of her village who had perform normal household works
like fetching water, grazing cattle, cutting grass and looking after her siblings.

Phoolan had rebellious characteristics right from her childhood. She was the only in her
family who used to resist against her uncle Bihari and his son Mayadin who had taken
all of her father’s land and not leave a chance to beat Phoolan and her siblings and
humiliate er family. They were not even allowed to pass through their home to relieve
themselves in the nearby field. Once the Sarpanch of the village restrained her family
even to draw water from the village well. At all these incidents it was only Phoolan
from her family who rebel against these misconducts. Her rebellion characteristics
came when she was nearly 10 years old. When her cousin Mayadin cut down the Neem
tree which her father had planted in his childhood and has planned sell for her marriage.
For this Phoolan protested against him, abused him and humiliated him publicly until
she fell unconscious being hitten by a brick by Mayadin.

At the age of eleven her parents married her to a man named Puttilal who was a widow
and was almost thrice her age. As opposed to other girls who despite marrying at young
age used to go to her husband’s home after hitting puberty, phoolan was forced to go to
Puttilal’s home at the age of 11 only. There were no women in the family of Puttilal
and were only three people; her husband Puttilal, His father and Phoolan herself. Her
husband Puttilal used to mistreat her and raped her several times at such a tender age.
Because of indulging in sexual activities at such a young age and doing excessive
household work she fall ill and her health started getting worse day by day. After this
her father brought her home where she started recovering. But after full recovery her
father again sent her with Puttilal who again treated her same as before. Phoolan with
the help of her maternal uncles somehow managed to escape from his house and hid at
their home. After living there for some days Phoolan returned back to her village Gorha
ka Purwa.

Meanwhile, her cousin Mayadin lodged a false FIR against her accusing her for the
robbery which has occurred in his house few days back. In the police station the police
beat her like animals and raped her in front of her father taking advantage of their
poorness and low caste. She was released after her mother brought lawyer from Kalpi
and with her proof of her thumb impression from the hospital which Phoolan had given
while her sister Rukmani was admitted in hospital for her abortion.

After, getting released from the jail she came back home of her parents. Now, she
started adopting violent approach against other. She started to fear the villagers that she
has a rifle and will shoot them if they do not behave properly with her and her family.
She even dared Sarpanch’s son suresh who had raped her with his friend before in front
of her parents. She alongwith her sister Choti started assisting her father in building
wall etc. when the upper caste people for whom Phoolan and her father used to work
do not pay their wages Phoolan used to threat them of shooting because of which they
start receiving their wages on time.

Irritated by Phoolan’s behaviour the upper caste people of her village alongwith
Mayadin and Sarpanch hired group of Dacoits to kidnap Phoolan. One Monsoon night
a group of Dacoits leaded by Baboo Gujjar and Co-leaded by Vikram Mallah kidnapped
Phoolan from her house. Baboo Gujjar who was a man of bad character tried to rape
Phoolan many times. One night when he was sleeping with her, Vikram Mallah along
with his men shot Baboo Gujjar and took the command of the gang. He fell in love with
Phoolan and married her with her consent. He was the only men in whole of her life
who respected her and cared about her. He taught her how to fire gun and rules of
dacaoity. With the help of Vikram Phoolan first took revenge from her first husband
Puttilal and then from Mayadin and Sarpanch of her village. She carried out many raids
alongwith Vikram.

Vikram Mallah was shot dead by his two gang members Shriram and Lalaram. Shriram
was the one who had taught him all about dacaoity and was his guru. After killing
Vikram and his gang members, they took Phollan under their seizure and took her in
the Rajput Village of Behmai where she was gangraped several times by the Thakurs
of the village and Shriram for several weeks. She somehow managed to escape from
their clutches with the help of an elderly Brahmin who subsequently got killed for
helping Phoolan.

After escaping from the clutches of Sriram and his gang, Phoolan formed her own gang
with the help Kali, Charan, Balwan and Baba Mustakin. At first, Phoolan joined their
gang but after some time Phoolan separated from their gang and formed his own
gangwith Man Singh as her Lieutenantand few others from Baba Mustakin’s gang. She
was determined to take the vengeance of her lover’s death and the humiliation which
she faced by the Thakurs of the Behmai village. She became Robinhood for poors who
used to take from richs and distribute among poors. She punished the rich men who
rape the daughters and wives of poor lower caste people and give them money for the
marriage of their daughter. She became the figure of goddess Durga in the eyes of the
poors.

For taking her revenge for the humiliatikn faced at behmai she shot dead 22 Rajputs of
the village publicly at a time. This incident gave her national recognition. After this
incident she came in the hit list of UP police because of which Phoolan and her gang
took shelter under the territory of MP. The government start pressurising her gang to
surrender. They killed two of her most important gang members Baba Mustakin and
one other. After facing continuous pressur from police and because of conflict among
her on gang on the issue of whether to surrender or not she and her gang finally decided
to surrender themselves to MP police on their own terms. Phoolan Devi and her gang
surrendered themselves to MP police on 12th of February, 1983 in front of more than
8000 people.

Her life at jail was not happy. At first, she didn’t like to live there but subsequently
adjusted herself there. She started living peacefully there. She used to do plantation in
the jail to pass her time. In the jail she adopted Buddhism and choose the path peace in
her life. She almost spent a decade in the jail after which she was released when the UP
government took all charges against her.
ASSESMENT
The assessment of her life can be based on the various stages of her life and various
incidents which took place in her life.

CHILDHOOD AND EARLY LIFE

Like stated above Phoolan Devi’s early life which is until she was of 10 years of age
was like any normal girl of her village. Like other girls she had to perform normal
chores of life like grazing cattle, looking after her younger siblings etc. Being belonged
to lower caste mallah family, she and her family were victims of constant humiliation
faced by the hands of the richer class Thakurs. Her uncle Bihari and his son Mayadin
were also among those who humiliated them. Her uncle Bihari had taken all the land of
her father by misleading him. He deprived Phoolan and her family even from a single
piece of land because of which they were not having money to eat properly or to buy
clothes to wear. Once the Sarpanch of the village deprived her family even to draw
water from the village well and they were compelled to drink the river water.
Sometimes even after working hard in the fields of the Thakurs or building walls for
them whole of the day, he didn’t get any wage from them. She was born in a family or
you can say in an era where girls were considered to be a burden on their family and
were not treated well even by their parents.

Against all these mistreatments and discrimination faced by the upper caste people it
was only Phoolan who used to rebel against them and fight with them for her rights, the
right of her family and the rights of all the lower caste people. She was rebellious right
from her childhood days and was not like others who take it as their fate to be born in
the lower caste family and were meant to serve the upper caste like Brahmins and the
Thakurs. Her rebellious characteristics can be traced right from her childhood. Once
she started a revolt against her cousin Mayadin who cut down the Neem tree which her
father had planted in his childhood days and was a source of income for her family. She
abused Mayadin in front of whole of the village and humiliated him until she fell
unconscious on being hitten with a brick by Mayadin.

These incident shows the bold and rebellious characteristics of Phoolan. It was only
Phoolan who stood against all these firmly without any support from others.
HER MARRIED LIFE

She was married and went to her husband’s home at the age of eleven only. Her parents
married her to widower named Puttilal Mallah who lived in a distant village. Puttilal
was a man almost thrice of her age and lived with his father. Although she was only
eleven years old but her childhood ended the day she got married. Her husband raped
her brutally at such a tender age several times. Because of indulging in sexual activity
at such a tender age and doing harassing household work she suffered from typhoid
fever because of which her health deteriorated a lot. At her husband’s house there was
no one to support her and backup her when she resists against her husband because of
this her revolt against Puttilal was of no use. She had tried to escape from his clutches
several times but all her attempts went in vain. In this phase of her life she can be seen
as a helpless girl who was crying for help to save her from the clutches of her husband.
Even when she went her village after escaping from her husband’s clutches, the
villagers used to curse her saying its sinful for a married girl to leave her husband’s
home and she belonged there only.

BANDIT LIFE

This was the most glorious phase of her life. Her bandit life started when she was
kidnapped from her house by the gang of Baboo Gujjar and Vikram Mallah. Phoolan
alongwith Vikram whom she married later carried out many dacaoities together. They
used to take from the riches and give the wealth to the poor ones. This helped them to
gain a personality of robinhood among the people. Unlike other gang of dacoits who
used to rape the wives and daughters of poor Phoolan and her gang worked for poor
and provide them justice. Phoolan emerged as a figure of goddess Durga among poor.
With the help of Vikram and his gang she took her revenge for the humiliation which
she had faced in her earlier life. Firstly, she gave punishment to her first husband Puttilal
who had brutally raped her many times at a very tender age. After this she took her
revenge from Mayadin and the Sarpanch of her village. She tried to took all the land
from Mayadin which his father had taken from Phoolan’s family misleading her father
but her father demanded only 5 bighas of land. Phoolan target only the rich and
distribute the wealth among poors.

After facing constant humiliation and being raped several times by the Thakurs and
even by the police in front of her father while she was arrested on false charges of
committing robbery in Mayadin’s house, she adopted the path of violence and decided
to take her vengeance from all who had humiliated her. Phoolan had not chosen the
path of violence and became a dacoit by choice but it was only because of all the
suppressions, humiliation and injustice which she had faced by the hands of the upper
caste people which compelled her to adopt this path and become a dacoit. She was a
normal girl who had always dreamed of living a normal life and it was only because of
these incident which leaded her to the path of violence. So, it is not Phoolan who has to
blame for the things which she did at Behmai and with other Thakurs, but the real culprit
is the society and its various wrongful rules and regulation which does not give any
opportunity to the poor and the depressed classes to rise. Despite getting independence
in 1947 and adopting constitution in 1950 which abolishes caste system our country has
not been able to abolish it fully.It is the wrongful tradition which gives the upper caste
a right to supress the lower caste people and same happened in the case of Phoolan
Devi. It was also because of the corrupt police officers of the Kalpi who do not even
register her complaint against the Thakurs and took action against them because of
which Phoolan and her family suffered a lot. They even raped Phoolan while she was
arrested on the false charges of committing robbery. Our judiciary system is also to be
blamed which was not able to give Phoolan father her land back from Mayadin and
which costed a lot to her father to fight the case. Because of spending the little money
which he earned in fighting the suit against his brother Bihari Phoolan’s father was even
unable to feed his family. All these incidents compelled Phoolan to choose the path of
violence.

This phase of her life gave her everything which she achieved in her life. It gave her
national and even international recognition. Infact, Phoolan Devi was Phoolan Devi
because of being a bandit only. Being a bandit she gave justice to many poor and rape
victims. She used to give money which she loots from the riches to the poor and needy
ones. This helped her to earn a lot of respect from people which helped her to even win
elections after she was released from the jail and helper her to cover the path of
parliament. She established herself as a champion of oppressed. She started to be
referred as India’s female Robinhood.

Phoolan devi was a real fighter who despite being raped and gang raped several times
and watched her loved ones getting shot and die never give up on life. She was
determined to take revenge from those who did bad to her.
BEHMAI GANGRAPE AND HER REVENGE

This was the most humiliating incident of her life. After this incident she had almost
lost her instincts of living but her rebel nature inspired her to live and avenge her lover’s
death and the humiliation which she faced. After murdering Vikram Mallah, Shriram
and her gang kidnapped Phoolan, naked her and marched her through many villages.
They kept her in the village of Behmai were she was raped and gangraped many times
for almost three weeks by the Thakurs. She somehow managed to escape them with the
help of a Brahmin who was killed for this by Shriram. Once again she became the victim
of the upper caste. She was feeling helpless and had decided to die. But finally she rises
and decided to avenge the killers of her lover Vikram and for the humiliation which she
faced. Once again she was week but her spirits were not. She didn’t give up, instead
she formed her own gang of Dacoits with Man Singh as her lieutenant and few others
with her side. Her gang mostly consisted of lower caste people.

Once during a raid on the village Behmai she identified two people who were involved
in her gangrape and asked them to identify the rest of them but they denied. She lined
up twenty-two Thakurs of the village and shot dead all of them. This incident is
considered as the biggest massacre in Indian history done by gang of dacoits. The
politics of India got rattled after this incident and ordered to neutralise her gang. She
got national attention after this incident. Many people still criticise her for this and many
support her. It is on a person to see Phoolan as a victim of rape gangrape and a practice
of caste system or to see her as a bad dacoit murderer. Inspite, she became the most
wanted criminal after this incident it was difficult for the police to capture her as she
was having the support of the lower caste people. If we see it from the viewpoint of
robbers it was her biggest mistake of life also. As after this incident she came top on
the wanted list of the police and as a result of which her degradation started. Many of
his close gang members got killed by the police. Her gang became weak and a lot of
conflicts raised among the gang members who subsequently got separated from the
gang. It was only because of this incident, there comes a condition of surrender for her.
Indian media portrayed her as a hero, female robinhood and as a bandit queen.
PHOOLAN DEVI’S SURRENDER AND HER PRISON LIFE

Phoolan Devi surrendered herself with her gang to Madhya Pradesh police negotiating
her terms and condition which included that she will not be hanged and will be released
after 8 years of jail. She surrendered herself on 12th of February 1963 in front of more
than 8000 people which shows the support she has among the lower caste people. Her
surrender was the first stage towards leading to a simple life. She didn’t like the media
coverings at first and was afraid of camera. She didn’t like the life at prison at first but
got adjusted there with time. She adopted Buddhism religion in the jail which shows
her intention of living a peaceful life in future. It also shows her hatred for the caste
system prevalent in the Hindu religion because of which she got humiliated whole of
her life and was also a major reason for being a bandit.

In the jail she started plantation of potatoes and other things. She spent her time
watching television doing plantation etc. Phoolan Devi got completely changed herself
while living in jail. From fierce queen of ravines who always carry her stun gun on his
shoulder and was having a rage in her eyes for the vengeance of hers and her lover
Vikram Mallah to a normal prisoner leaving peacefully with her fellow prisoners doing
plantation and daily chores of her life. She even started worshipping and praying daily
morning. She gained back her female characteristics which she has lost in the jungle
taking revenge of her and her lover Vikram.

She got released from the jail after sending 11 years in jail without any trial. UP
government raised all charges against her which included charges for numerous
murders and kidnappings. After getting released from the jail she started living life
peacefully. But she was having a constant fear of being murdered by the upper caste
people for which she had been given 24 hours’ police protection. She got a ticket from
Samajwadi Party for contesting election from Mirzapur seat of UP which she won with
flying numbers. She was having the support of all the lower caste of the area and played
a major role for Samajwadi Party in winning of the election.
 CONCLUSION
Phoolan Devi also known as the bandit queen of India became a living legend and a
figure of respect for the lower caste people of the village. For them she was no more
than a figure of goddess Durga who used to take from the riches and give it to the poor.
She became their saviour for the poor against the richer upper class people who used to
rape their daughter and wives.

It is upto a person to decide how he sees Phoolan Devi. For some she was a fearsome
dacoit having a price on her head, a murderer and who evaded police by hiding in the
ravines of Chambal and terrorising them. While other can describe her as a rape
survivor who instead of lying silent and killing herself fought her fight to took revenge
against all those who had humiliated her right from her childhood.

She acted as a fiery symbol against caste system prevalent in Hindu religion. Being a
victim of the system she knew how it feels being oppressed by the hands of the upper
caste people. Hence, she took a gun in her hand and fought with all the Thakurs who
raped the daughters and wives of the lower caste poor people and try to supress them.
Because of this she earned a lot of respect in the eyes of the poor and the lower caste
people. She became a criminal in the eyes of law but for the poor she was a figure of
justice who saved them from the injustice of riches.

She was a born rebel who used to rebel against the upper caste people right from
childhood against their various misconducts.

Still today many girls are raped daily some of the incident got reported and some of
them even do not raise their voices against the culprit, some get justice and some do
not. Phoolan Devi is an inspiration for all those girls.

The story of Phoolan Devi’s life inspires us and make us to think about the status of
women in our society particularly in the underprivileged areas of the country. In our
society where in one hand we worship goddess Durga, kali, Saraswati while on the
other hand in reality women are being raped and humiliated which is a matter of
concern. The women status needs to be improved a lot.