BBC looks at female vigilantes in India
Pink Vigilante’s poll fight for Indian women’s rights
Driving through a country highway for the better part of four hours, west of the holy city of Allahabad, brings you to Bundelkhand.
It’s an arid region, with forests, hills and ravines - one of India’s poorest and least-developed areas where only the toughest survive.
As we arrive in Barghar, a small town in the Manikpur constituency, we notice a large crowd of women gathered by the side of the road. All of them are dressed in pink.
This formidable woman has built her reputation as the head of a group of women who over the past few years have targeted corrupt policemen, wife-beaters and men who abuse or assault women.
They often, quite literally, take the law into their own hands as they beat the wrongdoers with wooden clubs.
“We realise we are not strong enough to carry out our plans of emancipating women and getting rid of poverty”, says her close aide, Suman Singh Chauhan.
“We don’t have money or power. So we need to get one of our own into politics. If we get one person elected, we’ll become powerful.”
Sampat Pal agrees.
“We have tremendous support on the ground because of our reputation. Women make up half of the population and yet have so little political power.”