The residents of a village where 22 men were shot dead, allegedly by Indian "bandit queen" Phoolan Devi, have celebrated India's biggest Hindu festival for the first time since the killings 20 years ago, a report said Sunday.
The Hindustan Times said the village of Behmai, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, had relaxed a self-imposed pledge not to celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, because Devi was killed earlier this year.
The 38-year-old former bandit turned MP was shot dead outside her official residence in New Delhi on July 25.
Police have charged 11 people in connection with the murder, including Sher Singh Rana who has confessed to killing Devi to avenge the deaths of the 22 high-caste Hindus in Behmai.
Devi, who was born into a poor family from a low-caste community, was part of a gang of bandits in India's central Hindu heartland.
Her gang leader lover was shot dead by two bandits who took her to Behmai, where she was imprisoned and allegedly raped.
She escaped after three weeks and then returned to Behmai with her own gang to take revenge.
She spent 11 years in prison but was never tried for the massacre and always claimed she personally never killed anyone. Two years after her release in 1994, she was elected to parliament.
After her death villagers in Behmai greeted the news with undisguised joy.
On Wednesday as Hindus across India marked Diwali, Behmai joined in the celebrations and crackers, while lights, candles and earthen lamps decorated houses for the first time since 1981.
"Don't you think this Diwali is special for all of us?" villager Lallan Singh was quoted as saying by the paper.
"After years of wait, the almighty has delivered his justice," he added.
The report in the Hindustan Times quoted Ram Kesh, whose father was one of those killed, as saying: "No one has burst a single cracker all these years because of our pledge. But the barrier has gone this Diwali."
The mood was summed up by village headman, Gandhi Singh, who said, "It's the beginning of a new era in Behmai."
Devi's turbulent life was captured in Shekhar Kapur's 1996 movie "Bandit Queen" -- New Delhi (AFP)
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