Behmai/Kanpur dehat

“My life is spent in fighting out this case, but the sad part is that nothing has happened so far. I have witnessed with my own eyes the death of my own people. How do I comfort myself?” asked Rajaram Singh, 71, a resident of Behmai village sitting upon a chair and expressing his ire over the judicial system.

Behmai village is situated by the Yamuna in Rajpur block, about 50 kms from district headquarter Kanpur dehat. It came into the national limelight when on February 14, 1981, Phoolan Devi, also known as the bandit queen, had with the help of her gang, shot 20 people to death, popularly known as the Behmai massacre.  

Rajaram is the one who had lodged the FIR (first information report) after the Behmai massacre in which seven members of his family were slain. He had witnessed the massacre hiding behind some bushes, just 100 metres away from the bloodbath.

Thirty-nine years from the hair-raising massacre, the court’s verdict was expected on January 18, but was postponed to January 24. The prime accused of the massacre, Phoolan Devi has been long dead.

The Behmai massacre firmly established Phoolan Devi as a relentless dacoit in the country. As per numerous media reports and Shekhar Kapur’s film Bandit Queen, Phoolan’s macabre act was a reaction to inhuman treatment and gang rape she was subjected to by the people of the village. To avenge her gang rape and ill-treatment, Phoolan had escaped to become a dacoit and returned to the village to carry out the massacre.

However, no one in Behmai accepts it. Narrating the incident, Rajaram, who witnessed the incident, said: “Phoolan Devi and Man Singh shouted ‘Jai Kaali Mai’ and fired the first bullet. Thereafter, the gunfire continued for a while. When it ended, 20 people out of the 26 queued up by Phoolan had died on the spot. Out of the six injured, only one is alive now.”

Waiting for the verdict is Munni Devi, 50, who was married at the tender age of 11. At the time of the shootout, she had been married for a little over four months and was yet to be taken to her husband’s house when she heard of her husband’s death.

“People, for the past so many years, have been visiting me and clicking my photos, but I do not gain anything from it. No one has ever bothered to learn about my wellbeing, about how I live without a husband and parents and in-laws. Whom do I look to in order to live?” asked Munni Devi, sobbing. She was quite upset with the media and the government.

Sitting on a cot, she pointed towards the right side of the door and said: “People tell me that on that day, he (her husband) had just returned from the school and barely hung his school bag when he was taken away by the dacoits and murdered. It was only upon his death that I could see his face for the first time. Now, I am not bothered about the verdict as my husband cannot be revived from death.”

She added: “In my community, remarriages aren’t allowed. If I had a child, I would have lived looking after her and needn’t have to ask of anything from the government. It was only last year that I was provided with a measly monthly pension of Rs 300.” While crying her face lit up momentarily when she said: “Why don’t I show you his photo!” She hurried and returned with her husband’s photo, carefully covered with a film.

What prompted or forced Phoolan to join a pack of vicious bandits? Phoolan’s mother Mula Devi, 85, informed: “The piece of land for which my daughter became a bandit is not yet ours. Had it not been for Maiyyadin (Phoolan’s cousin) taking away our land, Phoolan wouldn’t have been a dacoit. I simply want our land to be given back to us while I am alive. Everyone comes for a photo, no one does anything.”

Mula Devi entreats every visitor for the restoration of her ownership to the ancestral land. Telling about Phoolan during her childhood, she said: “She used to accompany me to the fields, graze goats and help around a lot on the fields. Maiyyadin had falsely set her up as a dacoit and sent her to jail. When she got released, she was captured by the dacoits and she became one of them.”

Phoolan couldn’t be arrested following Behmai massacre and it was in 1983 that she made a conditional surrender to the Madhya Pradesh police. The government had agreed to her terms which included no death sentence for her gang mates, government jobs for her siblings and restoration of her right to her ancestral land.”

Following her release from prison after a period of 12 years, Phoolan Devi was offered a ticket from Samajwadi Party in 1996 to contest Lok Sabha Elections from Mirzapur. She was twice elected the Member of Parliament and it was during her second stint as MP that she was slain on July 25, 2001.

In the words of Rajaram, “That day, Phoolan had come with 35-40 bandits from Jalaun district through the Yamuna on a boat, first plundering the villages thereafter gathering everyone at a place and opening up fire.”

Rajaram had named 15 accused in his report out of which 3-4, including Man Singh, are still absconding while many are dead. The one named Posa is still behind bars whereas another named Ram Singh died in jail while serving his sentence.

The site where the dacoits had opened fire upon the villagers, a memorial has been built bearing the name, age, village and father’s name of all the 20 slain, including the day and date of the murder. People still visit the site offering prayers and remembering their dear departed.

Recalling his 39-year-long struggle, Rajaram said: “I pine for justice, but am helpless before the judicial system. No government official comes to our village to look at the widows. Meet them and see for yourself their plight. Each time the date is furthered.”