Phoolan's gruesome revenge, killing 20 men in line
- Phool had 48 cases against him when he surrendered, the verdict came 43 years after the 1981 massacre in Behmai village near Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.
- The Behmai massacre verdict revived memories of the bandit queen Phoolandevi's horror. Phool created the Bahamai massacre to take revenge for his gang rape. Phoolan was kept naked in a room in Bahamai and the men came and raped her whenever they wanted. As if this atrocity was less, the whole village was gathered and humiliated by forcing Phoolan to go out naked from the middle of the village and fetch water from a well for Dalits outside the village. This atrocity lasted for months.
Not many people have paid attention to the fact that the verdict came after 43 years in the 1981 massacre in Behmai village near Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, but this verdict has revived the memories of the bandit queen Phoolan Devi's fear, reminded of the story of Phoolan's revenge. Phoolan Devi shot and killed 20 Thakur caste men of Behmai village standing in a line in a way seen only in a movie to take revenge for the atrocities including gang rape on her. On 14th February, 1981, on the day of Valentine's Day, this massacre of Phool caused an uproar in the whole country. It was later clarified that Phool killed 17 Thakurs. Among the remaining three were one Dalit, one Muslim and one OBC. But what difference does it make?
Vishwanath Pratap Singh of Congress was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh at that time. In the wake of the Bahamai massacre, V.P. Singh had to resign from the post of Chief Minister. There were 36 accused including Phoolan Devi in Behmai massacre. Out of them 34 accused have died. Of the two surviving accused, Shyambabu has been sentenced to life imprisonment while Vishwanath has been acquitted due to lack of evidence.
Mr. Ramsingh and his brother Lalla Ramsingh were the reason why Phool was treated badly in Bahamai. Both were dacoits and they committed such atrocities on Phoolan that they could not even hear about it. The Bahamai massacre is one of the biggest massacres perpetrated by the Chambal dacoit gangs spread across Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. This massacre made Phoolandevi famous not only in India but all over the world. Born in the backward Mallah caste in Gorha Ka Purwa village of Jalaun district of UP, Phoolan did not become a bandit of her own free will, but became a bandit after falling victim to the lust of the bandit Babu Gujjar.
Phoolan was born in a very poor family. His uncle sold his father's land, so five of them, four sisters and one brother, had to work together with their parents to make ends meet. When Phoolan turned 13, her father married her to 40-year-old Puttilal in exchange for 100 rupees, a cow and a bicycle. At that time it was decided that Phoolan would be taken when she turned 16 but Puttilal took her three months later.
Phoolan was only 13 years old then. Puttilal used to have a relationship with such a young girl and when she fell ill within a month, Puttilal left her at her father's house. After Phoolan recovered, her son Kailash was sent to work there. Phoolan forms a relationship with Kailash. Phool had to come back home when Kailash's wife came to know about this. Phoolan's family brought him back to Puttilal. Puttilal got married to another person, so there were daily fights and finally Puttilal left her again.
In Pier, Phoolan got into a case after a fight with his uncle's son, in which the police caught Phoolan and took him away. He was gang-raped daily in the police lock-up. Daku Babu Gujjar saw Phoolan in the police station and pressured the police to free him. A few days later the dacoit Babu Gujjar ate him. When Babu kidnapped Phoolan in 1979, he was only 16 years old. Gujjar kept Phoolan as his mistress and raped her daily. For months, the Gujjars tortured Phoolan and made him a victim of hunger.
During this period, Phoolan's eyes met with Vikram Mallah, a dacoit of the Gujjar gang. After falling in love between the two, Vikram Mallah freed Phoolan from his clutches by killing Babu Gujjar. Mallah taught Phoolan how to shoot a gun and made him a gang member. Phoolan was happy with her lover Vikram Mallah. Mallah also hit her husband Puttilal at Phoolan's behest.
Mr. Ramsingh was released from jail just as the Vikram-Phoolan duo was growing in power in Chambal. This gang was originally created by Ram Singh so he had to become the Sardar again. Due to this, a fight started in the gang and Ram Singh killed Mallah. After Mallah's murder, Shri Ramsingh and his brother Phoolan were picked up and taken to Behmai. Phulandevi was gang-raped for days in Bahamai.
Mr. Ramsingh and his brother Lalla not only made Phoolan a victim of lust but also raped other men of the village, in which men of the Thakur caste were the majority. Phoolan was kept naked in a room and men came and raped her whenever they wanted. As if this atrocity was less, the whole village was gathered and humiliated by forcing Phoolan to go out naked from the middle of the village and fetch water from a well for Dalits outside the village.
This atrocity continued for months. One day, getting a chance, Phoolan ran away from the village and reached back to Chambal Bihdo. In Chambal Phoolan was sheltered by dacoit Mansingh. Mansingh treats Phoolan well so Phoolan falls in love with him. Both started living as husband and wife and formed a new gang and started robbery.
Phoolan started living life as a bandit queen again but the fire of revenge for the atrocities in Bahamai was burning in her heart. To extinguish this fire Phoolan and Mansingh with their gang attacked Behmai. Phool asked the villagers to hand over Mr. Ramsingh and Lallaram but there was no trace of both of them, so the dacoits went from house to house looking for the two. Meanwhile, the men were removed from the houses and gathered in the square. Flowering
The 22 men who had made themselves victims of hunger were taken to the banks of the Yamuna river and kept in a line, after which they dropped their bullets. 20 of them died and 2 survived.
After this carnage, the police rushed to catch Phoolan. Phoolani's mother was kept in jail for five months so that Phoolandevi surrendered for her sake. Phool instead continued dacoity. When it seemed that Phoolan could not be caught, police officer Rajendra Chaturvedi had to start negotiations to convince Phoolan to surrender. A crowd of thousands gathered to see Pali Ne Phool surrender to the then Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Arjun Singh.
When Phool surrendered, there were 48 cases against him. Most of the cases were in UP but Phoolan was not willing to go to UP jail fearing that she would be killed. Finally in 1994, when Mulayam Singh Yadav became Chief Minister, he withdrew all the cases against Phoolan, and Phoolan was released from jail. After that, Phoolan became an MP and was also killed.
- Phoolan celebrity Dasyu Sundari, found 40 thousand pounds in Bandit Quinn case
No other bandit has got as much publicity as Phoolandevi. Shekhar Kapur's film The Bantid Queen on Phoolan Devi became very famous, but other films like Phoolan Kahani Phoolwati Ki, Phoolan Devi have also been made on Phoolan. His autobiography, written by Mala Sene, is best known, but several books have been written on him. Drama, opera, web series etc. have also been made.
Phool strongly objected to Bandit Quinn and even filed a case. Phoolan Devi was offered 40 thousand pounds by Channel Four to withdraw the case against Bandit Quinn. Phoolan received 20 lakh rupees considering that the price of pound was around 50 rupees at that time. This is from the era when even a salary of five thousand rupees was considered huge. In those days Phoolan Devi received a huge sum of 20 lakh rupees.
- Phoolan became an MP twice, was killed at the age of 38
Phoolan Devi was brought into politics by Mulayam Singh Yadav. Phoolan became an MP in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections from the Mirzapur seat of Uttar Pradesh with a huge margin of 37,000 votes. In the 1998 election, Phoolan lost to BJP's Virendra Singh, but won again in 1999 and became a member of the Lok Sabha.
Phoolan was only 38 years old when a young man named Sher Singh Rana of Uttarakhand killed her on July 25, 2001, when she was a member of the Lok Sabha. When Sher Singh, who escaped after the murder, surrendered two days later, he claimed to have killed in revenge for the Bahamai massacre. Phoolan's husband Umed Singh called the killing a result of casteism. Sher Singh was later sentenced to 10 years. Sher Singh, who was released after serving this sentence, is now a politician.
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