Now, A Museum On Phoolan Devi & Chambal Dacoits

Bhind: Films have been made on Phoolan Devi and dacoits of Chambal belt in Madhya Pradesh.

Now, a museum is coming up in Bhind, where Phoolan Devi’s guns, Nirbhay Gujjar’s tape recorder, letters with ransom demands, chains used to tie captives and stills from Bollywood movie ‘Chambal ke Daaku’ will be on display.

It’s an initiative of Bhind Police, who will be set up the museum in four rooms at its headquarters, The Indian Express reported.

“The idea is not to eulogise those who once held sway over Chambal but to place their crimes in perspective and highlight the sacrifices made by the police to rein them in,” explained Bhind SP Manoj Kumar Singh.

“There will be at least 2,000 digitised police records and material compiled over the past five decades chronicling the crimes of murder, loot and kidnapping carried out by these bandits. The Chambal region became infamous in the country due to these deeds,” said Singh.

Photographs of 28 policemen who were martyred in encounters with dacoits, 30 who won gallantry awards and several others who were given out-of-turn promotions will also be put up, Singh informed.

“The dacoits identify themselves as baaghis (rebels) and movies have painted them as Robin Hoods who picked up arms after being victimised by the system. But my aim is to highlight that the crimes they committed had a huge impact on society here, especially the youth,” the SP said.

The museum is being mainly funded by donations, with over Rs 3 lakh being collected from 26 police stations under Singh’s charge.

Videos will be played on smart TVs where stories of kidnappings will be narrated with families of victims explaining how their lives were scarred.