Phoolan Devi was born in the small village of Gorha Ka Purwa, Uttar Pradesh, India. At 11 years of age she was married to a widower 20 years elder to her who would rape and mistreat her. Her husband abandoned her and her family disowned her.

In the late 1970s, a gang of dacoits abducted Phoolan. The gang leader tried to rape her but Vikram, the deputy leader belonged to Phoolan's caste, Mallah. Baboo was killed by Vikram during an attempt and he became the gang leader. Phoolan became his second wife. While ransacking the village where Phoolan's former husband lived, Phoolan stabbed him, dragged him in front of the villagers, and left him lying by a road, with a note warning old men who marry young girls.

Phoolan was lated abducted, locked up in the Behmai village, and raped by many men. She escaped with two other Mallahs from Vikram's gang, and created a new gang of Mallahs, that she led. Phoolan Devi began to be called the Bandit Queen and was infamous for robbing the upper-caste and sharing the take with the lower-caste. Dolls of Phoolan Devi dressed as Hindu goddess Durga were sold in market towns in Uttar Pradesh. She was glorified by much of the Indian media.

The Indira Gandhi Government decided to negotiate a surrender because even though Phoolan Devi was in poor health and most of her gang members were dead, she could not be captured. In February 1983, she agreed to surrender to the authorities.

In 1996, Phoolan Devi ran for a seat in the Parliament as a Samajwadi Party candidate and was elected as an Member of Parliament. In 1998, Phoolan Devi was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by some members of the British Parliament. She lost a bid for re-election in 1998, but was returned to office the following year. On July 25, 2001, Phoolan Devi was shot dead as she got out of her car at the gate of her New Delhi residence. The assailants also wounded her bodyguard, and escaped in an auto rickshaw.