Sampat Pal Devi, head of the Gulabi (pink) Gang
Click to read the BBC article
In a day and age where superheros are considered passe or nonexistent, the Gulabi Gang and leader Sampat Pal Devi show that not only DO superheros exist, but they still wear cool uniforms and fight injustice, Robinhood-style.
This gang of women has banded together in one of the poorest regions in India to stick up for those people who can't stick up for themselves - the untouchables, and specifically women from the lower casts. Women are typically married off at a very young age - Sampat Devi was married off at age 9 and bore her first child at age 13 - and domestic and sexual violence are common. The pink sari gang will often take justice into their own hands when the law doesn't do anything to protect the poor, or sometimes they just make sure the wrongdoer is humiliated for his actions.
Sampat Devi, like Greg Mortenson in Three Cups of Tea, is one person who has stood up to the injustices in society and is making a difference in her society, especially in the lives of women. Her gang is not afraid to stand up to police, and they have beaten police for holding an untouchable man without charges. While I don't agree with all of the Gulabi Gang's tactics (as a pacifist, I don't think I could ever be a part of a group that used violence as a form of retaliation), I admire the cause of fighting corruption and injustice, and I hope that Sampat Devi and the pink gang continue their fight.
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