Sampat Pal

About:

She was born in 1960, Uttar Pradesh. She is an Indian social activist from Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh, North India. She is founder of the Gulabi Gang, an Uttar Pradesh based social organisation, works for women welfare and empowerment and also participant of Colors TV's reality show Bigg Boss 6. She was married to a resident of the Banda district of UP at the young age of twelve. Four years later, at age sixteen, she took her first stance against domestic violence. A nearby neighbor was regularly abusing his wife, so she encouraged residential women to embarrass the man until he ultimately made a public apology for his actions. She was influenced by social activist Jai Prakash Shivharey to start the Gulabi Gang in support of women's rights. Pal inspired other women in her village and other villages to join the effort. The women look out for other women in neighboring towns, similar to a western neighborhood watch program. Together Pal and her women have carried out several raids, beaten up several men and public officials, and attained one-hundred percent success.

Works:

She started the Gulabi Gang with a group of women from her village to fight various forms of social injustice. This developed into an organized women’s movement with tens of thousands of members spread over several districts in Uttar Pradesh. To date, she has recruited an estimated 270,000 members to join her cause. The women members wear Gulabi (pink) saris and arm themselves with bamboo sticks, which they use whenever they come up against violent resistance. In 2003, three years before she formally set up the trust, Sampat’s just ways and enterprising streak helped Prema Rambahori, a dalit woman, set up a leaf-plate making business.