post news network, Bhubaneswar, May 10: Many in Uttar Pradesh know her. Ladies of the country, especially those subjected to domestic violence, love her. Hers is a tale of an ordinary woman becoming extraordinary by standing up to injustice and suffering. Sampat Pal Devi, the woman extraordinaire, respected for her role in protecting fellow women from torture and abuse, helping dowry victims and preventing child marriages across the state (UP), was born in a small village called Bundelkhand in Uttar Pradesh. She is now renowned for having established an association called ‘Gulabi Gang’ to protect women. More than two lakh women members are associated with it. Recently Sampat Pal Devi was in town to accept the Women Peacemaker-2015 award given by the Maa Ghara Foundation. She received prize money of Rs50,000. She spoke to Dip Chand Bihari of Orissa Post on Woman’s Day. Excerpts:
What was the idea behind forming ‘Gulabi Gang’ that especially works for the protection of women?
There was a family living next to my house where a husband used to beat up his wife often. One day, his wife succumbed to her injuries received on account of domestic violence. It was unbearable for me. I gate-crashed his house and grilled him for his inhumane act, but in vain. Even after the demise of his wife, he continued with his acts of violence unleashed on other members of his family. Unable to bear the menace, out of rage one day I started beating him up in public. Since then, I have vowed to fight domestic violence and other issues that negatively impacted women and soon formed a gang called ‘Gulabi Gang’, to ensure that the rights of women are safeguarded.
What is the story behind using pink saris and sticks as symbols of your movement?
Political outfits (Gulabi Gang, however, is not a political party) often use diverse colours, but no one ever used ‘pink colour’ (Pink, however, is the colour of TRS, the ruling party in Telengana). We decided to zero in on the colour and used sticks as symbols; through these two we wanted to project our image and the motive behind our work. We first try to counsel the attackers/perpetrators of domestic violence and if they do not pay heed to our counselling, the members of our gang flock to their house to beat them up and teach them a lesson.
Don’t you think that men are also being subjected to torture in our society? What is your view on it?
Of course men are being tortured in our society, but the rate of women being tortured is very high compared to that of the men. Newspapers often speak about women being tortured. There are a few news about men being tortured. Men have become more violent these days. Therefore, we preferred to form an association to protect women from abuses. We have been successful so far in providing justice to the women.
A Hindi film was made titled ‘Gullab Gang’ (released in 2014) where the story of your life was portrayed, what has been your reaction to that film?
I am not happy with that film. What it showed was totally opposite to our motto. There had been flaws in that film. Our association has stark dissimilarities with the movie starring Madhuri Dixit. We use sticks, not guns. Many scenes of violence in the movie had nothing to do with our course of action. Even they did not take any permission from us before making that film. Therefore, I have filed a case in the Delhi High Court in this regard.
What would be the future course of action of Gulabi Gang?
Now we are working in UP. We have plans to build a nationwide network. We are also planning to extend our services to foreign countries too.
