Editing Phoolan Devi (section)

===Behmai massacre===
Phoolan Devi managed to escape and met Man Singh, a bandit with whom she formed a new gang.<ref name="Sen" />{{rp|137}} They became lovers, living on wild berries and produce stolen from cultivated fields.<ref name="Sen" />{{rp|183}}<ref name="Atlantic" /> She returned to Behmai with her gang on 14 February 1981; speaking through a [[loudhailer]], she demanded that the villagers hand over Sri Ram Singh and his brother, then the bandits went from house to house looting valuables.<ref name="Sen" />{{rp|150–151}}<ref name="QoD" />{{rp|324}} When the two men could not be found, twenty-two men were lined up at the Yamuna River and shot from behind; twenty died and two survived. Since all the dead were at the time thought to be Thakur, Thakur farmers pressured Prime Minister [[Indira Gandhi]] to impose the rule of law. When Phoolan Devi was arrested in 1983, she claimed that she had not been present at the time of the shooting.<ref name="Harding-Queen" /><ref name="Sen" />{{rp|150–151}} This was corroborated by the evidence of the two men who survived, who stated that they had not seen her and that a man called Ram Avtar was giving orders.<ref name="Sen" />{{rp|159}} By other accounts, such as that of journalist [[Khushwant Singh]], it was Phoolan Devi who put the men to death.<ref name="QoD" />{{rp|324}} She was celebrated among [[Dalits]] (people at the bottom of the caste system) for fighting back against her abuse by men of a higher caste and when she eluded capture by the authorities her fame grew.<ref name="Time">{{cite magazine |last1=Karon |first1=Tony |title=India's Bandit Queen died as she once lived |url=https://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,168857,00.html |access-date=20 December 2022 |magazine=Time |date=25 July 2001 |archive-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221221051418/https://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,168857,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The killings prompted the resignation of [[V. P. Singh]], the [[Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh]].<ref name="Naim">{{cite news |last1=Naim |first1=Shahira |title=Kshatriya Samaj to honour Phoolan's killer |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060501/nation.htm#5 |access-date=21 December 2022 |work=The Tribune India |date=30 April 2006 |archive-date=29 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029113752/https://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060501/nation.htm#5 |url-status=live }}</ref> It was later clarified that the dead men were seventeen Thakurs, one Muslim, one Dalit and one member of [[Other Backward Class]]es. Phoolan Devi was charged ''[[Trial in absentia|in absentia]]'' with 48 crimes, which included kidnapping, looting and murder.<ref name="Sen" />{{rp|xiii}}<ref name="SD">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=40 years on, Behmai victims still await justice |url=https://www.siasat.com/40-years-on-behmai-victims-still-await-justice-2090516/ |access-date=10 November 2023 |work=The Siasat Daily |agency=Indo-Asian News Service |date=15 February 2021 |archive-date=10 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231110193235/https://www.siasat.com/40-years-on-behmai-victims-still-await-justice-2090516/ |url-status=live }}</ref>