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Phoolan Devi ('''फूलन देवी''' ''Phūlan Devī'') 10 August 1963 – 25 July 2001 ), popularly known as "The Bandit Queen", was an India n Dacoit , who later turned politician. EARLY LIFE She was born into a family of the Shudra sub-caste of boatmen called mallahs in the small village of Gorha Ka Purwa, Uttar Pradesh , India . She was married at an early age. Phoolan Devi had a troubled youth. Eventually she chose to turn to a life of crime, and joined a gang of '' Dacoits '', or bandits, becoming their leader after a few weeks. She became known as the "Bandit Queen" who robbed, stole, and murdered at will. As such, she was a dangerous criminal, and murderer. Nevertheless, amongst certain sections of society, she may have gained a romantic image, after the fashion of Robin Hood . THE BEHMAI MURDERS Phoolan Devi gained national and international infamy in 1981 as the leader of a gang which murdered 22 Thakur men in the village of Behmai, in Uttar Pradesh. This cold blooded crime was carried out supposedly as retribution for her rape at the hands of certain men of the caste. Nevertheless, she ordered the massacre of unrelated members of the community of Thakurs living peacably in the village, simply on the basis of their caste. SURRENDER, IMPRISONMENT, AND POLITICAL CAREER Pursued by the law enforcement authorities, and by various rival criminals, she nonetheless proved difficult to capture. The government of Indira Gandhi and the police finally made a deal with her that she and members of her gang would not face the Death Penalty . As a part of this arrangement, in 1983 she surrendered on a stage before a crowd of 10,000 people. Imprisoned without trial for eleven years, she was released in 1994 , after Mulayam Singh Yadav , the newly elected populist chief minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh, directed lawyers for the state to withdraw all charges against her. This occurred at a time when many lower-caste Indians were organizing among themselves and becoming more politically active; Devi was thus tremendously symbolic to this group, and this may have factored in Singh's dismissal of charges against her. After her release, Devi converted to Buddhism as part of the Indian Buddhist Revivalist movement. In 1996 she was elected to Parliament as a member of the Samajwadi Party , which had freed her in the first place. Several retired police and law enforcement officials were extremely critical of this development. DEATH On July 25 , 2001 , she was shot in front of her house in New Delhi , allegedly by one Sher Singh Rana, which he claims was retribution for the Behmai massacre. The police, however, are sceptical of his claims. She is survived by her husband, Ummed Singh. FILM The 1994 Indian Film '' Bandit Queen '', by the director Shekhar Kapur is about her life up through her 1983 surrender. She fiercely disputed its accuracy and fought to get it banned in India. EXTERNAL LINKS
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