Hero, Bandit & Murderess: Untangling The Life Of Phoolan Devi
Very few people in the world fit into clearly defined boxes of the “good” and the “bad”, with most toeing the zone in the grey area. While recounting the life of Phoolan Devi, one of India’s most prolific women, it is easy to see that she too belongs in this space where she has been termed both a dauntless dacoit and an icon in resistance.
Born in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghura Ka Purwa village in 1963, Phoolan was the youngest of four children, of whom only two survived till adulthood. She was part of the Mallah community which is deemed an oppressed caste.
Phoolan’s first rebellion started young when she opposed the cutting down of a neem tree on the family’s land. After standing her ground, she had to be beaten unconscious with a brick and taken home. According to the book, Insurgents, Raiders and Bandits, she was then married off to a man thrice her age who later sexually and physically assaulted her. After allegations of theft by her uncle, she was taken into police custody where once again, she was subjected to physical abuse.
It was towards the start of the ’80s that Phoolan’s journey as “The Bandit Queen” began, after falling into the company of dacoits. There is a caste lens with which her actions thereafter should be viewed which is often missing in the retelling of her story where most people focus on the gender aspect alone.
Phoolan Devi, a towering Bahujan icon of resistance. Martyred 25 July 2001.#PhoolanDeviBahujanMartyr pic.twitter.com/JuucZw6DZZ
— Khalid Anis Ansari 🇮🇳 (@KhalidAAnsari4) July 25, 2021
Her autobiography details out how gang leader Babu Gujjar raped and brutalized Phoolan for over three days and was eventually killed by the second-in-command Vikram Mallah, who belonged to Phoolan’s caste. Rape has, and continues to be a tool to oppress and exploit the power skew between genders and communities.
Mallah eventually became Phoolan’s partner and led the gang through activities such as looting upper-caste villages, kidnapping, and highway robberies. From a wider perspective, it was easy for society at that point in time to simply look at Phoolan as a criminal who got caught up in nefarious activities.
But in retrospect, her voice against her oppressors is a historic act of resistance for women from the lower castes who have often been treated as pawns in socio-political conflicts. In their 1987 study, researchers Hanmer and Maynard write, “Violence has always been a commonly used tool to keep an oppressed group under terror and rape is perhaps the ultimate form of violent expression of both class and patriarchal oppression.”
Cycle of violence
The return of two brothers Shri Ram and Lalla Ram to the gang set in motion a series of conflicts and bloodshed that resulted in the death of Mallah. Their resentment for Mallah and Phoolan was only exacerbated by the fact that the brothers belonged to a dominant caste that traditionally owned more land and thus held more power. Phoolan was then locked up in Behmai village, raped for days on end by men from the oppressor caste.
On the evening of February 14, 1981, several months after her escape from Behnai, Phoolan rounded up 22 upper-caste men from the village and ordered them to be killed to avenge her rape. Outrage erupted across the country especially from those who belonged to the dominant caste.
After spending 11 years in prison as an undertrial, all cases against her were withdrawn by the Samajwadi Party government whom she later joined. She was still considered an outlier in politics where the presence of a woman from the lower castes is still extremely limited. Challenging caste and gender supremacy, she fought for the rights of female laborers from oppressed castes and tolled away for the rights to own land.
She was still an MP when she was killed in 2001 in New Delhi by a trio of men from the oppressor caste in what was seen as a revenge attack.
Sher Singh Rana, who was nabbed by the Delhi Police in the case was later paid “homage” to by the Kshatriya Samaj for being the “symbol of Kshatriya honour and upholding the dignity of the community.” It was clear that she rattled communities who could not stand to see their ranks challenged by a woman who dared to stand up in the face of centuries of oppression.
Read more: Why The Rape And Murder Of A Dalit Girl Eats Away At Our Collective Conscience
A lasting legacy
It is irrefutable that the impact that she has had on Indian history is still relevant even two decades after her death. Earlier this week, Vikassheel Insaan Party party chief Mukesh Sahni said that they would distribute 50,000 statues of Phoolan Devi to party workers, reported the media.
The move comes days after idols of Phoolan Devi were confiscated by police and government officials before they could be installed around Uttar Pradesh. Sahni stated that this was a measure to ensure that the ideology of Pholaan would remain alive amongst party workers.
In a story for Dalit History month, Anusha Chaitanya writes about the legacy that Phoolan leaves behind, “Phoolan’s inimitable and unmatched spirit endures. She continues to be Bahujan feminist icon and an inspiration to countless young people.” From a violent warrior to an inspirational figure, Phoolan’s life has managed to traverse the full spectrum of people’s perceptions.
(Edited by Amrita Ghosh)
