Phoolan Devi

Phoolan Devi (1963–2001), popularly known as the Bandit Queen, was an Indian dacoit (bandit) who later became a Member of Parliament, before being assassinated. She was a Mallah woman who grew up in poverty in a village in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where her family was on the losing side of a land dispute which caused many problems. After being sexually abused repeatedly and married off at the age of 11, she joined a dacoit group, becoming its leader. Her gang robbed higher caste villages and held up trains and vehicles. She became a heroine to the lower castes for being a Robin Hood figure who punished her rapists and evaded capture by the authorities. Devi was charged in absentia for the 1981 Behmai massacre, in which twenty Thakur men were executed, allegedly on her command; afterwards the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh resigned and calls to capture Devi were amplified. She surrendered two years later in a carefully negotiated settlement and served 11 years in Gwalior prison, without facing trial.