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International17 FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 2014 ‘Bandit queen’ killer sentenced to life NEW DELHI: An Indian court yesterday sentenced the man convicted of killing India’s “bandit queen” Phoolan Devi to life imprisonment, 13 years after she was gunned down in broad daylight. Devi, a heroine of India’s lower castes who transformed herself from an illiterate villager to a member of parliament, was shot by three masked men outside her home in central New Delhi in 2001. Sher Singh Rana, who police said had con- fessed to her murder, was convicted last week after a trial that had dragged on for more than a decade. Yesterday, Judge Bharat Parashar announced the life sen- tence to a packed courtroom in Delhi and fined him 100,000 rupees ($1,600), the Press Trust of India news agency report- ed. The court had earlier acquitted 10 other defendants in Devi’s killing, with the judge saying the prosecution failed to prove its case against them beyond reasonable doubt. Police said after Devi’s death that Rana had confessed to murdering the 38-year-old politician to avenge the deaths of 22 upper-caste Hindus she was accused of murdering on Valentine’s Day in 1981. Devi herself said the Valentine’s Day massacre in the north Indian village of Behmai was in retalia- tion for her gang-rape by upper-caste Hindus. Reports pub- lished after the massacre say that Devi, carrying a gun and with ammunition strung across her chest, led a group of around 20 people posing as police officers into the village LAHORE: Supporters of Canada-based preacher Tahir-ul-Qadri, hold sticks as they march in Pakistan’s eastern where the men lived. city of Lahore yesterday. Thousands of protesters have set off from the Pakistani city of Lahore to march on the She reportedly ordered the villagers to hand over two rival capital in a bid to unseat the government they claim was elected by fraud. —AFP gangsters, and when they failed to do so, told her men to round up all the young men in the village. They were then lined up on a riverbank and shot. Devi finally surrendered to authorities in 1983 after years spent on the run with her gang- Pakistan anti-government ster lover. Together they are said to have laid siege to villages in the impoverished and sparsely populated badlands of the central protest marches begin Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, looting and killing and hold- ing up trains. She was released from jail in 1994 and two years later was Khan, Qadri lead mammoth rallies elected to parliament, with followers holding her up as a mod- ern-day Robin Hood. Her life story was captured in the 1996 LAHORE: Thousands of protesters set off from either march will be allowed into the heavily- thousands of PTI supporters gathered, waving movie “Bandit Queen”, which traced her journey from abused the Pakistani city of Lahore yesterday to march guarded capital, where security has been green and red party flags, dancing and singing child-bride to feared outlaw in the ravines of central India and on the capital in a bid to unseat the govern- ramped up in recent days. More than 20,000 patriotic songs. Khan urged his followers on, finally a member of parliament. Rana, 38, is expected to ment they claim was elected by fraud. police and security forces have been deployed galvanizing them into action. “If you succeed, appeal against the sentence in a higher court. —AFP Supporters of cricketer-turned-politician Imran and almost all roads into the city have been then there will be justice in Pakistan and peo- Khan and populist preacher Tahir-ul-Qadri blocked by the authorities with barbed wire ple all around the world will respect the green massed separately in Lahore before beginning and shipping containers. passport,” Khan told the cheering crowd. the 300-kilometre (190-mile) journey to rally in Khan, a cricket hero who led Pakistan to Islamabad. Both Khan and Qadri say the May Flags and barricades World Cup glory in 1992, has persistently cried 2013 general election was rigged and want Announcing the start of the march in a foul over last year’s election and tried numer- Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to resign and hold speech to supporters, Qadri rattled off a list of ous avenues to have the results of a number of new polls. Sharif won by a landslide. The two pledges including discounted water and gas, seats thrown out. But international observers groups, travelling in motorized convoy up the and justice and healthcare for every citizen. “It who monitored the polls said they were free Grand Trunk Road to Islamabad on the will be totally peaceful, non-violent and demo- and credible and critics say PTI should not have anniversary of Pakistan’s independence from cratic march,” he said. “We want to pull poor accepted their seats in parliament if they did Britain, were not expected to reach the capital people out of poverty. Our revolution will not believe the vote was fair. before late in the evening. establish a true democratic system.” The authorities had insisted Qadri’s His followers earlier complained of govern- Military manoeuvres? Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) march would ment “double standards”, saying they were Some have accused PTI and PAT of being not be allowed before relenting in the after- being penned in around their leader’s home in aided by the powerful military establishment noon. “The government has allowed PAT to Lahore while PTI were being given free rein to to undermine the government, diverting atten- march towards Islamabad on condition that carry on their protest. PAT activists clashed tion from more pressing issues like an offensive they remain peaceful, no armed person joins with police last week when they tried to against the Taliban in the northwest and the the march and no participant of the march remove blockades around the cleric’s resi- country’s economy. On Monday Qadri told AFP NEW DELHI: Rukmani Devi, sister of India’s famous breaks any law,” a senior police official in dence, leaving at least two people dead, and he wanted an “interim national government” Lahore told AFP. there were fears of more violence yesterday. consisting of technocrats and experts. In a “Bandit Queen” Pholan Devi (right) and Shikha Singh, The authorities earlier said they would An AFP journalist saw PAT supporters equip- country which has seen three coups in its 67- a relative of Phoolan’s killer Sher Singh Rana, walk out allow Khan, whose Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf ping themselves with clubs, masks and hel- year history, the threat of army intervention of a court after judgment was passed in the murder (PTI) political party came third in the polls, to mets in preparation for the march. There was a always hovers in the background at times of case, in New Delhi yesterday. —AP go ahead with his march. It is unclear whether festive mood in Lahore’s Zaman Park where unrest. —AFP Jailed Indian tycoon granted more time to sell hotels NEW DELHI: Jailed Indian business tycoon liminary accord for the three hotels, his lawyer, S group’s failure to repay billions of dollars to Subrata Roy, negotiating sale of his luxury hotels Ganesh, told the Supreme Court yesterday. “Still a investors who were sold outlawed bonds. Last from a makeshift office in prison, was granted a lot remains to be done for a considerable amount week he was given a 600-square foot office inside 15-day extension from the country’s top court to of money,” Ganesh said. The court granted the prison complex with facilities like computers seal a deal and pay $1.6 billion to secure bail. Roy, Sahara 15 more days that would not include and video conferencing. He is also allowed to head of the Sahara conglomerate, was initially weekends and public holidays, but said that receive visitors to try to sell or mortgage the given 10 working days to Aug. 19 to talk to poten- would be the last extension. hotels. Of the $1.6 billion, Sahara has to pay half in tial bidders for his three luxury hotels, including Roy has been held in South Asia’s biggest cash and the remainder in a bank guarantee. the Grosvenor House in London and the New prison for more than five months after failing to Sahara is also willing to raise a loan by mortgaging York Plaza. Roy is holding “very effective” negotia- appear at a contempt hearing in a long-running its Aamby Valley mega township project in west- tions with buyers and the group has signed a pre- dispute with the capital markets regulator over his ern India, the lawyer told the court. —Reuters Subrata Roy .

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