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Phoolan murder: Muted
celebrations in Behmai

If victims of the infamous Behmai massacre restrained themselves after hearing about Phoolan Devi's murder, they have their reasons.

The news of Phoolan's murder evoked euphoria among some residents in this remote hamlet in the ravines along the Yamuna river, but not for long.

What is believed to have also contributed to the subdued euphoria was the apprehension that some dacoit gangs of Phoolan's 'mallah' (boatman) community still active in the region could well open a new chapter in the several decades old Thakur-Mallah rivalry.

Another reason is the fear of figuring in the list of murder suspects.

Memories of the two-decade old nightmarish experience when 17 Thakurs and three others were killed in cold blood by Phoolan Devi on February 14, 1981, are still fresh in the minds of the villagers.

The massacre in the early eighties had put the otherwise nondescript village on the international map and led to the resignation of then Uttar Pradesh chief minister V P Singh.

Though upper caste Thakurs who dominate around 84 villages in the region, abhor Phoolan they have kept their feelings under check.

Village elder Raja Ram Singh saw no reason for revelry. "We would have been happier if she had been punished by the law," he said.

"How does it make any difference to us whether Phoolan was alive or dead? What matters more to us was the utter neglect of this village, which has no electricity, no drinking water. We have to wade through slush and water during the monsoon to reach this place," he pointed out.

However, a cop at the Rajpur police station, about 15 Kms from the village, had something else to say. "We could hear the boom of guns from Behmai," he said.

"We wanted her to be punished by a court of law," said 70-year old Vakil Singh, one of the four survivors of the massacre. "She took me to be dead as I lay motionless after falling under two other dead bodies," he revealed.

"It was divine retribution. God punished her for her sins," was the brief and crisp remark of 50-year old Santoshi Devi, who had helplessly watched her husband Banwari begging for his life before a haughty Phoolan who refused to show any mercy. The massacre that followed earned her instant notoriety and the infamy of 'bandit queen'.

Almost each of the 12 surviving widows of Phoolan's victims shares this sentiment.

Munni Devi was barely 15 and at her parent's place after her unconsummated marriage (a tradition prevalent in parts of rural India) when she got the news of her husband Lal Singh's brutal end. She remains a widow to this day.

"She had to be repaid in the same coin," she quipped.

Another resident Hukum Singh had some practical concerns following Phoolan's death. He does not deny that people in Behmai village as well as in the 84 Thakur dominated villages around would now not have any more sleepless nights.

"However, with her death Behmai will lose its importance. Whatever we got in the name of development was because of Phoolan's heinous act. Now what?" he wondered.

Unlike the elders of the village, youngsters did not make any bones about the 'victory'.

"We were all thrilled to hear about the manner in which Phoolan met her end. I am among those who have suffered in the 20 years that have gone by since that woman pumped bullets into my father's chest," said a 21-year old college going lad, whose widowed mother pleaded anonymity.

Another youngster who was not even born when the sensational mass murder took place was even more forthright.

"Ever since my childhood, my blood always boiled when I heard about the massacre. What is wrong if we fired guns to express our jubilation now when God has punished her?" the boy told rediff.com.

Strangely, there are no takers to Phoolan's story of being gang-raped by a bunch of upper caste Thakurs.

"How can you believe that?" asked Vakil Singh though even police records show that the then 22-year-old Phoolan Devi took to arms essentially to avenge her humiliation and physical abuse by gangsters Shri Ram and Lala Ram in this very village, about a year before the infamous massacre.

Brothers Shri Ram and Lala Ram, upper caste Thakurs, could not see the emergence of a low caste woman emerging as a rival. The Behmai massacre was preceded by a series of killings on both sides.

Phoolan Devi's Murder: Complete Coverage

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