Gulabi Gang - The saviour of the poor (54 images)

Sampat Pal Devi comes from a poor family in Bundelkhand - the poorest region of India. The region is fraught with abject poverty, gross under development, lack of law and order, and stark casteism in which the Brahmins and other higher caste people treat their low caste brethren with disdain. Out of such situation when Sampat Pal Devi decided to speak up for the poor, she has been winning heart felt gratitude of the poor as well as enmity of the high caste people and grudging respect of the...
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Sampat Pal Devi comes from a poor family in Bundelkhand - the poorest region of India. The region is fraught with abject poverty, gross under development, lack of law and order, and stark casteism in which the Brahmins and other higher caste people treat their low caste brethren with disdain. Out of such situation when Sampat Pal Devi decided to speak up for the poor, she has been winning heart felt gratitude of the poor as well as enmity of the high caste people and grudging respect of the law enforcement officials who used to be largely inactive in these badlands of North India. Initially, she began with helping distressed women - victims of domestic violence and dowry system, but soon started getting other cases of nature of land dispute and under development. She emerged as a fiery leader in 2007, when she beat up the OC of the local police station while demanding release of a dalit man kept locked up in the cell for thirteen days without being charged with a case.Today, she has a huge fan following of some 25 hundreds of thousands of women (spread across 8 districts of the state of UP) who have come to be known as Gulabi Gang or Pink Vigilante Women for their vibrant pink sarees - the costume of the gang; and fiery nature of dealing with injustice. When verbal negotiations for justice fail they resort to beating up. Sampat Devi is viewed as a messiah with the promise of bringing back law and order for the poor, in these mafia troubled areas.
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