Fact Check: Woman in the viral post is not real life Phoolan Devi
A collage is viral on social media. Users claimed the woman in the collage is Phoolan Devi, who is popularly known as ‘Bandit Queen’.
By Tejal Sinha Published on 29 Oct 2021 1:00 PM GMT
Hyderabad: A collage is viral on social media. Users claimed the woman in the collage is Phoolan Devi, who is popularly known as 'Bandit Queen'. She also served as a Member of Parliament.
"She is Phoolan Devi. She was raped by her upper-caste husband 3 times older than her age in front of her parents. She was jailed, gang-raped by many policemen but nobody was shocked. Then she killed all 12 rapists and the whole of India was shocked. She did something extraordinary. Proud of her!" reads the caption.
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Fact Check
The claim made through the viral post is misleading.
NewsMeter performed a Google Reverse Image Search of the first image which led us to the website of 'ScoopWhoop'. "If You're Struggling To Find A 'Good' Biopic To Watch, Here's A List," reads the message on the website.
The team found a similar image. "Shekhar Kapur won the Filmfare Best Director Award for this film, which tells the story of Phoolan Devi, otherwise known as the Bandit Queen. After being a victim of sexual assault and societal ostracism, Phoolan goes on to lead a gang of bandits and garner both notoriety and respect. Seema Biswas played the titular character in this 1996 film," reads the description.
The team also found a report published by Dailyhunt. The image was also used in the report. "The 'Bandit Queen' actress herself told these secrets, cried all night because of a scene," reads the report.
The team then performed another Google Reverse Image Search of the second image which led us to a report by India.com. It also had published a similar image with the headline: `I don't want to be typecast as a mother: Seema Biswas'.
"Indian actress Seema Biswas, who shot to fame with her role as Phoolan Devi in the 1994 biopic `Bandit Queen', is looking forward to playing varied roles on-screen," reads the report.
It is therefore evident that the claim made through the viral post is misleading. The woman in the pictures is not Phoolan Devi, but actress Seema Biswas. Seema played the role of Phoolan Devi in 'Bandit Queen', a biopic of Phoolan Devi in 1994.
