Seema Parihar is an Indian politician and former bandit. She was a member of the

Samajwadi Party The Samajwadi Party ( SP; translation: ''Socialist Party'', founded 4 October 1992) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India, headquartered in New Delhi but mainly based in Uttar Pradesh, with significant presence in other states as w ...

. Parihar claims that her inspiration is

Phoolan Devi Phoolan Devi (1963–2001), popularly known as the Bandit Queen, was an Mallah woman who grew up in poverty in a village in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Her family was in a land dispute which caused many problems in her youth and after b ...

, who was known as the Bandit Queen, and had also been a bandit before becoming a politician. She was a contestant in ''

Bigg Boss ''Bigg Boss'' is an Indian reality television game show franchise based on the Dutch reality show '' Big Brother''. It is produced by Endemol Shine India through Viacom18 and Disney Star. Subsequently, the various versions of the show are made ...

'' in 2010.

Biography

Seema Parihar was born in

Auraiya Auraiya is a city and a municipal board in Auraiya district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. NH 19 passes through the center of the town. Phaphund railway station is nearest Railway Station. Saifai Airstrip is the nearest aviation fac ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in a poor family. She was kidnapped in 1983, at the age of 13 from her village of Bawine in

dacoit Dacoity is a term used for "banditry" in the Indian subcontinent. The spelling is the anglicised version of the Hindi word ''daaku''; "dacoit" is a colloquial Indian English word with this meaning and it appears in the ''Glossary of Colloquia ...

s Lala Ram and Kusuma Nian, and became a dacoit herself. In 1986, she married dacoit

Nirbhay Singh Gujjar Nirbhay Singh Gurjar (1957 – 7 November 2005) was an Indian criminal and one of the last dacoits of the Chambal and known as the "Last Lion of Chambal". He terrorized the Chambal ravines in India, the lawless zone at the cusp of two states U ...

, but later returned to Lala Ram. Parihar became the leader of her gang, and engaged in looting, kidnapping and murder in the regions surrounding Bihand jungle and

Chambal River The Chambal River is a tributary of the Yamuna River in Central and Northern India, and thus forms part of the greater Gangetic drainage system. The river flows north-northeast through Madhya Pradesh, running for a time through Rajasthan then f ...

. During her career, she killed 70 people, kidnapped 200 people and looted 30 houses. In June 2000, after 18 years of dacoity, she surrendered to

police. She was jailed, facing 29 charges, including 8 counts of murder and half a dozen of kidnapping. In August 2001, she said that she had received offers from political parties. In the

2002 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election Elections to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly were held in 2002. Following a spell of 56 days of President’s Rule from 3 March to 2 May 2002, Mayawati became Chief Minister on 3 May 2002 for the third time after the BJP extended support ...

, Parihar supported

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena ( IAST: ''Śiva Sēnā'') () was a right-wing to far-right Marathi regionalist and Hindu ultranationalist political party in India founded in 1966 by cartoonist Bal Thackeray. Originally emerging from nativist movements in Bom ...

. In November 2006, she joined the

Indian Justice Party Indian Justice Party (IJP) was a political party in India that was established by Udit Raj in 2003. He was an Indian Revenue Service officer and had resigned in 2003 to form Indian Justice Party. Merger with Bharatiya Janta Party Udit Raj, ...

, and ran as its candidate for the

Mirzapur Mirzapur () is a city in Uttar Pradesh, India, 827 km from Delhi and 733 km from Kolkata, almost 91 km from Prayagraj (formally known as Allahabad) and 61 km from Varanasi. It is known for its carpets and brassware industries, and the folk ...

Bhadohi Bhadohi is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is home to the largest hand-knotted carpet weaving industry hub in South Asia. The city is 45 km west of Varanasi and 82 km east of Allahabad. Demographics As of 2011 Indi ...

Lok Sabha by-election in 2007. In January 2008, she moved to the

Lok Janshakti Party The Lok Janshakti Party ( LJP, "People’s Manpower Party") was a state political party mainly based in the state of Bihar, India. The party was formed in 2000 when Ram Vilas Paswan split from Janata Dal. The party had a considerable followin ...

, and in October that year, switched to the

. As of October 2008, she had been acquitted of 15 of the criminal cases against her, and was on bail for the remaining 14 cases. In 2011, Parihar was appointed the head of the women's wing of the National Corruption Eradication Council, an anti-corruption organisation.

Popular culture

Seema Parihar played in the film '' Wounded - The Bandit Queen''. This film is the first instance of

Hindi cinema Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

where a "bandit queen" played out her own real-life story on screen. Shot on location in the Chambal Valley, the film was released in 2006. The film went on to win the Critics Award at the Leicester Expo Bollywood film festival (United Kingdom) in 2005. In 2010 Seema Parihar also participated in

season 4 Season 4 may refer to: * "Season 4" (''30 Rock'' episode), an episode of ''30 Rock'' See also * * Season One (disambiguation) Season One may refer to: Albums * ''Season One'' (Suburban Legends album), 2004 * ''Season One'' (All Sons & Daughte ...

of the Indian reality TV show ''

''. This show aired on

Colors Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associa ...

from 3 October 2010 and Parihar was evicted on day 76 (week 11) from the house. Before participating in ''Bigg Boss'', Seema Parihar was in jail and filed a petition in

Allahabad High Court Allahabad High Court, also known as High Court of Judicature at Allahabad is the high court based in Prayagraj that has jurisdiction over the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 17 March 1866, making it one of the oldest high ...

seeking permission to appear in the program. Allahabad High Court initially rejected her plea to appear.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parihar, Seema 1976 births Bigg Boss (Hindi TV series) contestants Indian female serial killers Indian robbers Living people Outlaws People from Auraiya Samajwadi Party politicians Women in Uttar Pradesh politics