Phoolan Devi - from 'Bandit Queen' to 'honorable MP'

New Delhi: Phoolan Devi, better known as the Bandit Queen of India, was born in a small village of Uttar Pradesh called Gorha Ka Purwa.She was born into a poor family of a boatman. Belonging to the lower strata of the society, Phoolan had been taught to obey the high caste Thakurs of the village and be obliged with whatever they had to offer in return.At a very young age, Phoolan was sold in marriage to a man thrice her age in return of a cow.She was abused and harassed constantly by her husband for many years. She tried to run away many times but after several failed attempts, she was sent to her father's house. She was sent to jail for a month after her alleged involvement in a robbery at her cousin's place. On her return, she was boycotted by the villagers and her family.In the year 1979, Phoolan was abducted by dacoits and she was taken out of Gorha Ka Purwa to Chambal which later became her home.The gang of dacoits who abducted Phoolan was led by Babu Singh.Babu tried to abuse Phoolan constantly. After few years, a struggle for leadership arose within the gang following which Phoolan took up banditry and became a leader with her lover Vikram. The duo spread their activities in the thick jungles of Chambal but this was not acceptable to other dacoits of the region. One night, she was kidnapped by two dacoit brothers, Sri Ram and Lala Ram. They also killed Phoolan's lover and several other gang members. Phoolan was then taken to a nearby village called Behmai, where she was gang raped by the brothers and other villagers for almost three weeks. After spending several weeks in the village, Phoolan anyhow managed to escape. Following the three week torture, Phoolan was filled with the fire of revenge. With a group of dacoits, she entered Behmai and looked for Sri Ram and Lala Ram. On not receiving any response from the villagers, she shot 22 villagers. This killing later came to be known as the Behmai massacre.After the massacre she spread her activities all over the country. She not only became the most wanted dacoit but also India's only woman bandit of her time.She surrendered later on and was booked for 30 cases of murder and other crimes.Surprisingly, the trials never took place as the state government withdrew all cases against her. In 1991, Phoolan Devi contested the by-poll to New Delhi parliamentary constituency against celebrities like Rajesh Khanna and Shatrughan Sinha. It's a different matter that she badly failed in her attempt.Her political career took off only after she was released from jail and married Umed Singh, who was a legislator. In 1996, she contested assembly elections from Mirzapur constituency on a Samajwadi Party and won by 37,000 votes. She lost her seat in 1998 to a BJP candidate but managed to win it back in 1999.In 2001, while she was retuning home after attending a parliament session, she was shot dead outside her home by three unidentifie.