Phoolan Devi

Phoolan Devi, popularly known as the Bandit Queen, was an Indian dacoit (bandit) who became a politician, serving as a member of parliament until her assassination. She was a woman of the Mallah subcaste who grew up in poverty in a village in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where her family was on the losing side of a land dispute which caused them many problems. After being married off at the age of eleven and being sexually abused by various people, she joined a gang of dacoits. Her gang robbed higher-caste villages and held up trains and vehicles. When she punished her rapists and evaded capture by the authorities, she became a heroine to the Other Backward Classes who saw her as a Robin Hood figure. Phoolan Devi was charged in absentia for the 1981 Behmai massacre, in which twenty Thakur men were executed, allegedly on her command. After this event, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh resigned, and calls to apprehend her were amplified. She surrendered two years later in a carefully negotiated settlement and spent eleven years in Gwalior prison, awaiting trial.

10 August 1963

Born on the same birth date (10 August 1963): Andrew Sullivan • Anton Janssen • Henrik Fisker

Born on the same birth day (10 August): Aleksandr Stoletov • Alexander Perezhogin • Anne, Duchess of Exeter • Anwar Ibrahim • Ari Boyland • Héctor Faubel • Jim Bakkum • Jimmy Griffin • John C. Pemberton • Kenny Perry • Leonidas Andrianopoulos • Matt Morgan (comedian) • Panait Istrati • Peter Endrulat • Philippe Albert • Ray Smith (cricketer) • Ronnie Spector • Ted Geoghegan • Vernon Washington • Wolfgang Paul • İlhan Mansız

Born in the same month (August 1963): Alejandro González Iñárritu • August 19 • Dave Brockie • Jackie Walorski • Jay Leggett • Kōji Kitao • Maria Gheorghiu • Mark Strong • Michael Chiklis • Nigel Pearson • Rituparno Ghosh • Uwe Bialon