Phoolan Devi

Phoolan Devi was married to Puttilal Mallah. She didn’t have any children with him.

She was shot dead outside her Delhi Bungalow on 25th July, 2001. The main suspect, Sher Singh Rana, was sentenced to life imprisonment on August 14, 2014.

Even today, Phoolan Devi is hailed as the Indian Robin Hood by many. 'Devi', a respectful sobriquet, was bestowed on her by the people belonging to the lower caste.

Phoolan was born on August 10, 1963, in a hamlet called Gorha ka Purwa in Jalaun, Uttar Pradesh.

She was the youngest child of Devi Din Mallah and Moola. She had three siblings, but only Phoolan and one of her sisters made it to adulthood.

She was born into the Mallah (boatmen) community and was considered nothing more than a burden by her family. Since her family was poverty-stricken, she couldn’t receive formal education.

Her rebellious attitude came to the fore when she was just 10 years old. When one of Phoolan’s cousins suggested the idea of cutting down a neem tree which was rooted to a piece of farmland that belonged to the family’s ancestors, the idea was rejected by Phoolan.

Though her cousin said that he wanted to grow crops on the land for subsequent profit, she felt that her cousin was trying to cheat her father and hence stood firmly against his suggestion.

A year later at the age of 11, Phoolan was married off to a widower named Puttilal Mallah who was almost thrice as old as Phoolan. Puttilal lived several miles away from Phoolan’s village.

While her family thought that her rebellious nature and her habit of using profanity would be kept in check by her husband and her in-laws, the reality turned out to be totally different.

She was repeatedly raped and abused by her husband, and after many attempts, Phoolan escaped from his clutches and went back to her home.

Meanwhile, her cousin, whom Phoolan had humiliated earlier, decided to teach her a lesson. He lodged a police complaint against Phoolan claiming that she had stolen valuables like gold and wrist watch from him. Phoolan was arrested and was physically abused by the cops over a period of three days.

Her cousin had also burnt the crops belonging to her father as an act of revenge. After her release, Phoolan once again attacked her cousin and hurled abuses at him.

The exact reason behind Phoolan’s decision to turn towards banditry is unclear. Some say that she was kidnapped by the dacoits which triggered her decision of becoming one among them.

Others believe that she simply wanted to begin a fresh life and hence chose to join a group of bandits. In her autobiography, Phoolan Devi simply says that ‘it was the choice of the fate.’

After joining the group of dacoits, she fell in love with Vikram Mallah. Vikram killed the gang leader Babu Gujjar when Babu tried to rape Phoolan. Vikram then became the new leader of the gang. Phoolan then marched into her husband’s village along with other members of the gang and stabbed her husband in front of the whole village.

She then left him on the road along with a note which warned other men that they too, would face similar fate if they marry young girls from the neighboring villages. Her husband lived the rest of his life as a recluse as people were afraid of interacting with him.