Pink Gang, India

Gulabi gang, Pinkg gang a gang for justice. Uttar Pradesh, India February 2008

Sampat Pal Devi, aged 51 with 4 children, is the founder of the "Gulabi gang" - the pink gang - created in 2006.

When she was 12, she got married to her late sister's husband. she did not receive an education. At the age of 20 she began defending cases of the maltreatment of women in her village. Under threat from angry husbands or families-in-law and arguments with her parents due to her work, she left the village with the support of her husband and came to Attara (Banda district).

Sampat helps women in difficulty. She visits villages around the area and speaks with families and husbands who maltreat these women and tries finding solutions.

"A woman should not be regarded as goods" she says, in order to explain her actions, "their husband and families-in -law must respect them." Sampat does not limit her motivation to the condition of women; she also helps with the plight of farmers, the construction of roads and fights against the corrupt system which prevails in this area.