29. Phoolan Devi Visited Vengeance Upon Her Abusive Ex-Husband by Gutting Him
Phoolan Devi was the only female in her rural bandit gang. The gang leader decided to make her his concubine and began abusing her, until another bandit stepped in, killed him, and took over the gang. He and Phoolan became lovers. Soon thereafter, she swept into her abusive ex-husband’s village at the head of bandits, seeking vengeance. She dragged her ex out of his house, gutted him with a knife, and pinned a note to him, warning men not to marry little girls. In subsequent months, Phoolan developed a reputation as a Robin-Hoodesque type of bandit queen, who robbed upper castes and shared her loot with the impoverished.
That phase of her life ended when an internal gang struggle ended with the murder of her lover, and his replacement as gang leader by two upper caste bandit brothers. They seized Phoolan and imprisoned her in their out-of-the-way home village, Behmai. There, she was assaulted by many men, and subjected to sundry humiliations such as being paraded naked around the village. She eventually fled, but vowed to come back and wreak vengeance upon her tormentors. She did so, and how.