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The terrifying night of the Behmai massacre! How an ordinary girl became Chambal’s most dangerous bandit queen

Samira Vishwas | August 10, 2026 1:24 PM CST

Bandit Queen Phoolan Devi: In the 19th century, when women were forbidden from even leaving their homes, there was a woman who spread terror across the country. This is the story of a woman who, at the age of 10, confronted the powerful. After facing harassment, kidnapping, and rape from the police and the powerful, she formed her own gang and killed Thakurs by lining them up.

This incident occurred on February 12, 1983. In front of a huge crowd and armed policemen in Bhind district, Madhya Pradesh, the 20-year-old woman surrendered, placing her weapons before pictures of Goddess Durga and Mahatma Gandhi. Dressed in a khaki police uniform, a red shawl, and a red band on her forehead, this young woman was none other than the bandit beauty Phoolan Devi, known as the “Bandit Queen.”

Phoolan Devi Fought the Bullies

Phoolan Devi was born on August 10, 1963, in Gorha Ka Purwa village, Jalaun district, Uttar Pradesh. Born into a poor Mallah (Nishad) family, Phoolan’s father, Devidin, had his land usurped by his uncle and cousin, Maiyadin, by bribing the village sarpanch. Phoolan’s fight against injustice began at the age of 10 when she resisted the bullies to save her family’s land and a neem tree from being cut down, for which she was brutally beaten.

Due to poverty and social pressure, she was married at the age of 11 to a man named Puttilal, who was three times her age. After enduring physical, mental, and sexual abuse at her in-laws’ home, she rejected the marriage and returned to her parents.

Babu Gujjar Kidnapping

After repeated harassment by the police and local gangs in the village, Phoolan Devi was abducted by Babu Gujjar’s bandit gang in 1979. Babu Gujjar raped her several times there. Vikram Mallah, a member of the gang, protested this abuse and killed Babu Gujjar, providing protection to Phoolan. Vikram taught her how to use a rifle, after which the two fell in love, and they began plundering upper-caste villages in defense of the rights of the oppressed, but this peace was short-lived.

Phoolan Devi (Courtesy – Social Media)

It is said that upper-caste (Thakur) bandits, Shri Ram and Lala Ram, killed Vikram Mallah in a battle for supremacy and took Phoolan Devi hostage to Behmai village. There, she was held captive for several days and gang-raped.

‘Robin Hood’ And the incarnation of Durga

After escaping from her captors, Phoolan Devi formed her own gang. On February 14, 1981, Phoolan Devi returned with her gang to the same Behmai village where more than 20 Thakur men were lined up and shot. This incident, known as the “Behmai incident,” overnight transformed her into a “Robin Hood” and an incarnation of Durga among the oppressed and lower castes.

After surrendering in 1983, Phoolan spent 11 years in Gwalior and Jabalpur jails without trial. She was released in 1994. After coming out of prison, she chose a democratic path.

Bandit Queen Phoolan Devi (Courtesy – Social Media)

She became a Member of Parliament after embracing Buddhism in Nagpur.

She formed the “Ekalavya Sena” to teach self-defense to women and marginalized people. Hurt by the caste discrimination prevalent in Hinduism, she embraced Buddhism on February 15, 1995, at the historic Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur. In 1996, she won the election from Mirzapur and became a Member of the Indian Parliament. She also wrote her autobiography, “I Am Phoolan Devi,” which gained global fame.

However, she strongly opposed Shekhar Kapur’s acclaimed film “Bandit Queen,” and author Arundhati Roy also made serious allegations that the film commercialized her suffering. Phoolan Devi was brutally murdered by gunfire outside her New Delhi residence on July 25, 2001. Sher Singh Rana, along with his associates, carried out this murder.