Phoolan Devi

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Phoolan Devi (* 10. August 1963 in Gorha Ka Puah , Bundelkhand , India ; † 25. July 2001 in New Delhi ), also Phool Singh was known, an Indian "bandit queen" after her release from prison politician was .

Life

Phoolan Devi was born on August 10th, the day of a Hindu flower festival; Phoolan means “flower” in the dialect of her home village. The year of their birth is uncertain, but it is generally assumed to be 1963. Her mother's name was Moolan, her father's name was Devidin, and the family was from the Mallah caste , a lowly fisherman jati who belongs to the Shudra . She had three sisters and a brother and lived with her family in the poorest of circumstances.

At the age of 11 she was married to a 35-year-old man Putti Lal , who however severely abused her and eventually disowned her. After returning to her village, she was deemed to have no rights, was raped several times, and then arrested on false charges. She was again brutally raped and ill-treated several times at the Kalpi Police Station . Then she was released on bail .

Between the ages of 17 and 18, she was kidnapped by two bandit gangs under Baboo Gujar Singh from the Kshatriya caste of the Thakur and Vickram, just like a Mallah. In the dispute, Vickram shot his rival Baboo Gujar . Vickram and Phoolan Devi got married and together they led a band of bandits. Their raids were also driven by revenge, for example Phoolan beat up her first husband and then put him on a donkey that was being led through the village as a deterrent.

Vickram was then killed by a former partner Shiri Ram , a Thakur, whereupon Phoolan took the name Phool Singh and formed his own gang. She saw herself as the incarnation of Durga , a goddess she worshiped. Together with two other gangs, they began extensive raids. They distributed the captured money to the poor and members of the lower castes. However, Phoolan was animated by hatred of the Thakurs. She is accused of killing 22 Thakurs in the so-called "Behmai massacre" in 1981 while hunting for Shiri Ram. She is also said to have severed the nose and penis of traitors or men who had abused women. During one of their raids, the Jagamanpur palace was occupied. A merciless hunt for her and her gang began. When the police attacked, the village of Guloli was completely destroyed because the police dropped bombs from helicopters and set the village on fire.

On February 12, 1983 Phoolan Devi surrendered to the Prime Minister of Madhya Pradesh , Arjun Singh , on a stage in front of the image of her goddess and a picture of Mahatma Gandhi . Over 10,000 people had come to this spectacle. A contract had previously been negotiated that guaranteed her eight years' imprisonment and land for her family. First she was sent to Gwalior prison where she was mistreated. However, she was in correspondence with Indira Gandhi and Arjun Singh. She was later transferred to Tihar Prison and was released in February 1994 after eleven years. She had been pardoned because of cancer.

Phoolan Devi had been detained without a trial for 11 years. People shied away from a trial, as the abuse of the police and misconduct by the authorities would have been discussed.

After her release, she worked as a human rights activist and was hailed as a heroine of the poor. Above all, she campaigned for women's rights. For the Samajwadi Party , a lower-left party, she won a seat in the Indian parliament in 1996 and 1999 . In 2001 she was murdered , likely by Sher Singh Rana , a cousin of a slain rapist. She left behind her third husband, Ummed Singh .

Trial of Phoolan Devi's killers

Sher Singh Rana is arrested

As early as 2001, Sher Singh Rana, who was arrested on suspicion of murder, allegedly confessed to the police that he had killed Phoolan Devi and his cousin in order to avenge the murder of 22 Thakur men in 1981. Rana is also a Thakur, reported the Indian news agency Uni.

Procedure and escape from Rana

The public prosecutor's office denied that influential politicians and criminals could have instigated Rana to murder Phoolan Devi and brought charges in October 2001 - but the proceedings only opened in Delhi in September 2002. Rana was housed in the maximum security prison in Tihar, New Delhi, and was due to be brought before a judge in Uttaranchal , where he had lived before his arrest. A few hours before the police could make the transfer, Rana was helped to escape by alleged uniformed police officers: Equipped with police uniforms and a forged judicial decision, the men had managed to surrender Devi's murderer. In 2006 he was arrested again in Calcutta and again held in the high security department in Tihar.

Trial and conviction by the Delhi High Court

On August 10, 2014, the Delhi High Court was found guilty . Defendant Sher Singh Rana, who has been the prime suspect in the case since 2001, was found guilty, while ten co-defendants were acquitted for lack of evidence. Another defendant died in prison in 2013 after suffering a heart attack. Seven of the eleven defendants had already been released on bail before the verdict was pronounced. Rana has been found guilty of murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy. When the verdict was announced, Rana complained indignantly why he was being sentenced alone, since others had also been present at the crime. A total of three masked and armed men were seen at the scene.

Twelve other judges have been involved over the years and the court heard 171 prosecution witnesses. Forensic examinations of clothing and a weapon, which were seized by the police after the perpetrators had escaped, clearly assigned them to Rana and identified the pistol as one of the murder weapons. Rana is said to have planned and carried out the murder of Phoolan Devi in ​​order to distinguish himself as the leader of the Thakur, the court noted when the verdict was pronounced. There is a popular belief that Rana took blood revenge for the murder of a cousin who Devi was accused of by Rana.

Rana was convicted of murder and attempted murder on August 16, 2014, to life imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 rupees - the prosecution called for the death penalty.

Movies

literature

  • Phoolan Devi: I was the queen of the bandits . Bastei-Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1998, ISBN 3-404-61414-3 (English, original title: I, Phoolan Devi . Translated by Theresia Übelhör).
  • Veena Kade-Luthra: Phoolan Devi. The legend of an Indian bandit . New criticism publisher, Frankfurt 1983, ISBN 3-8015-0190-6 .
  • Mala Sen : The Story of the Phoolan Devi. An Indian Woman's Fate, The Book for the Film . Goldmann Verlag, ISBN 3-442-12491-3 (English, original title: India's Bandit Queen. The true Story of Phoolan Devi , 1991. Translated by Christoph Göhler).
  • Willi Baer, ​​Karl-Heinz Dellwo, Michaela Karl, Hilmar König: Phoolan Devi. The rebel (=  library of resistance, volume 13 ). Laika Verlag, Hamburg, 2012, ISBN 978-3-942281-83-6 .
  • Christel Mouchard: Devi - The rebel with the soft eyes . Urachhaus, Stuttgart, 2012, ISBN 978-3-8251-7772-0 (French, original title: Devi, bandit aux yeux de fille . Translated by Corinna Tramm).
  • Tobias Matern: Damaged, but not broken. Because their rights were disregarded, Phoolan Devi became the champion of the poor . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . November 29, 2014, p. 32 .
  • Claire Fauvel, Phoolan Devi. Queen of Bandits, graphic novel , bahoe books , Vienna, 2010, ISBN 978-3-903290-22-8 , (French, original title: Phoolan Devi. Reine des Bandits. Translated by Daniel Zumbühl)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Confession: "Bandit Queen" Phoolan Devi killed in revenge . The mirror. July 23, 2001. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  2. ↑ Torsten Otto: Alleged murderer of the "Bandit Queen" fled from prison . suedasien.info. March 26, 2004. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  3. ↑ a b c Guilty verdict in the trial of Phoolan Devi's murder . Wikinews . August 10, 2014. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  4. ↑ Guilty verdict in the trial of Phoolan Devi's murder. Wikinews
personal data
SURNAME Devi, Phoolan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Phool Singh
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Indian bandit queen and politician
DATE OF BIRTH August 10, 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH Gorha Ka Puwa , Uttar Pradesh , India
DATE OF DEATH July 25, 2001
Place of death New Delhi