Birthday special: Rare picture of the Bandit Queen Phoolan Devi

New Delhi: Phoolan Devi, the dacoit-turned-politician popularly known as Bandit Queen, struck terror in the hearts of people living in central Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring Madhya Pradesh when her gang brutally massacred 22 upper caste men in Behmai, UP.Phoolan herself went through a hellish life in which she was raped and forced into dacoit gangs. She decided to surrender and live a peaceful life. She contested the Lok Sabha elections from UP on a Samajwadi Party ticket, and won. But the Lok Sabha member was killed right out of her official bungalow in the heart of Delhi, a stone's throw from Parliament.Phoolan Devi was born on August 10, 1963. Let's have a look at some of the very interesting pictures from her life as a dacoit as well as a politician.The fiery dacoit Phoolan DeviPhoolan Devi with a ferocious aggressiveness in her eyesPhoolan Devi, the leaderPhoolan in custody of a policemanPhoolan Devi caught by police with her gangA heartfelt and powerful intensity seen in Phoolan Devi's eyesPhoolan Devi clad in her dacoit uniformThe dacoit Phoolan Devi with her other group membersPhoolan with a group of other dacoitsPhoolan with a fellow dacoit under police custody Phoolan Devi as a politicianPhoolan spending some joyful momentsPhoolan Devi after joining politics surrounded by her guardsPhoolan Devi inside parliament house Phoolan Devi after her assassinationPhoolan Devi's body after assassinationPolice investigating the sight of Phoolan Devi's assassinationPhoolan Devi having some time off and relaxingPhoolan as a strong leaderPhoolan Devi during a political rallyPhoolan Devi's funeralPhoolan Devi addressing people during a political rally