July 25, 2001
Three masked men gunned down India's onetime Bandit Queen on Wednesday, killing the outlaw-turned-legislator whom the poor idolized as a champion of the lower castes. "From bullet to ballot to bullet" one television news channel proclaimed in summing up Phoolan Devi's life.
Devi, 38, was slain outside her home when she returned home for lunch from a session of the lower house of Parliament, Home Minister L. K. Advani told legislators. Her security guard was wounded. According to legend, Devi - the daughter of a low-caste family in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh - was sold into marriage at age 11, fled her brutal husband and fell in love with a highway robber.
Her lover was killed by upper-caste men from the village of Behmai who took her prisoner and raped her repeatedly. She escaped, formed her own gang and in 1981 returned to the village for revenge. On her orders, gang members mowed down 22 upper-caste men with machine-gun fire. Devi portrayed the 10-year rebellion that followed as a caste struggle in one of India's most backward regions, where upper-caste Hindus routinely preyed on members of the lower castes. India has long had a caste structure in which birth dictates stature.
Devi was idolized by India's poor as a horseback-riding heroine who roamed the countryside, her hallmark red bandanna tied around her head, a rifle slung across her back, exacting retribution from wealthy upper-caste landowners. She was jailed in 1983 for the slaughter of the villagers, though she denied the charges and was never tried. The Supreme Court freed her 11 years later. At least 70 cases of murder, kidnapping and extortion were still pending against her.
After her release, Devi sought to take her fight for justice for the poor into the halls of government. She became a member of Parliament in 1996, winning with a wide margin, thanks mostly to the support of women and the poor. Devi was the subject of a number of books and an award-winning 1994 film, "The Bandit Queen." As news spread Wednesday of her slaying, scores of admirers swarmed the hospital where Devi's body was kept under police guard. Her house was cordoned off and police put up barricades to keep curious onlookers away.
Members of her Samajwadi Party gathered at her home, shouting slogans against the government for failing to protect their leader. A party activist said the government had recently reduced the number of guards assigned to Devi and that might have prompted her old enemies to strike. An investigation was ordered into the attack, Advani told lawmakers in the lower house before it adjourned in a mark of respect for Devi.
She was in the habit of returning home for lunch from the nearby Parliament, something the gunmen may have known, an aide said. "I was in the kitchen when I heard shots. I rushed outside and saw Phoolan Devi lying on the ground. I ran to the road and stopped a passing car and took her to the hospital," said the aide, Uma Keshav.
Joint Commissioner of Police Suresh Roy said three masked gunmen fired on Devi as she stepped from her car. The killers drove off in their car, then abandoned it about a mile away from Devi's house, speeding away in a motorized rickshaw, Roy said.
The car, its rear windows shattered, was found by police, along with a mask, a revolver and three bullets. Devi's party colleagues said her killing was probably linked to crucial elections due next year in Uttar Pradesh. "I see a political conspiracy in Phoolan's killing. I have no doubt it's linked to the U.P. elections," said Amar Singh, Samajwadi Party leader. "Phoolan Devi was a leader of the masses."
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