Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Phoolan Devi

Phoolan Devi

 * This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page.

The result was: scheduled for Today's featured article/August 10, 2024  by Gog the Mild (talk) 11:00, 25 June 2024 (UTC)



Phoolan Devi (1963–2001) was an Indian dacoit (bandit) who later became a member of parliament (MP). She was a woman of the Mallah subcaste who grew up in poverty in the state of Uttar Pradesh. After marrying aged eleven and being sexually abused, she joined a gang of dacoits which robbed higher-caste villages and held up trains. When she became its leader, she evaded capture by the authorities making her a heroine for the Other Backward Classes. She was charged in absentia for the 1981 Behmai massacre, in which twenty Thakur men were executed, allegedly on her command. Afterwards, calls to apprehend her were amplified. She surrendered two years later and spent eleven years in Gwalior prison awaiting trial. She was released in 1994 after the charges against her were set aside and she became an MP for the Samajwadi Party. Her global fame had grown after the release of the controversial film Bandit Queen, which she did not approve of. In 2001, she was assassinated outside her home in New Delhi.
 * Most recent similar article(s): Last woman: Anna Blackburne Last underclass person: The boy Jones Last Asian article: Take Ichi convoy
 * Main editors: Mujinga
 * Promoted: November 18, 2023
 * Reasons for nomination: Marks date of death
 * Support as nominator. Mujinga (talk) 20:52, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
 * this has 1,440 characters, wayyyyy above the recommended limit, which is between 925 and 1025 characters. Reduce this. 750h+ 08:01, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
 * the word count is higher because there's no picture Mujinga (talk) 10:03, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
 * ok, based on that then i'll support. 750h+ 06:46, 12 May 2024 (UTC)

For image, ideally we'd like the person, but it appears copyrighted. But how about the image of Seema Biswas portraying her in the film Bandit Queen instead? It's an actress portraying that person so it's better than nothing. Harizotoh9 (talk) 04:59, 15 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Yes the image on the article is fair use only. I considered the Biswas pic but personally I'd rather have no pic. Mujinga (talk) 11:50, 15 May 2024 (UTC)


 * Support. Gog the Mild (talk) 16:28, 31 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Two problems: lack of an image (any image that will keep the Main Page people happy would work for me, it doesn't have to be an image of her), and we don't usually do death anniversaries at TFA. This is a hard call for me, but if there's no image, that makes it an easy call. - Dank (push to talk) 22:38, 2 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Hi Dank thanks for the message - I didn't know death anniversaries weren't a thing and to be honest I'm not really into marking dates anyway so I'd be fine with another date (I went for July 25 because people at TFA seem in my experience to prefer a date with resonance, if there's any actual guidance on this I'd love to read it). Or we could go to August 10 her brith date if that's better? On the image, I'd like to push back a bit since this was not an issue with for example Olive Morris at Today's featured article/June 16, 2022, I don't think it even came up. It's a reflection of systemic bias that we do not have many free to use photographs of women from the majority world, particularly working class / underclass one, so I'm not interested to include a photo just for the sake of a photo and it was hard enough trying to illustrate the article at all. Having said all that, I could ask around (again) at some relevant wikiprojects. Mujinga (talk) 10:16, 3 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Try also asking at WikiProject Resource Exchange/Resource Requests Gog the Mild (talk) 13:00, 3 June 2024 (UTC)

Running on Aug 10th would make the most sense, and to pic an image, any image. The photograph of the actress who played her in the 1994 is one option. Some compromizes have to be made somewhere. Harizotoh9 (talk) 03:00, 8 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Just read this ... I agree about systemic bias being a problem. Gog will be scheduling August and has agreed to take a look at this one for next month. I can tick off several boxes at the same time here (summer film, balance, etc.) by running Nil Battey Sannata ... I was involved a bit when that made it through FAC back in 2017. I hope you like that article as much as I did. - Dank (push to talk) 12:28, 3 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Fine by me, thanks both! Mujinga (talk) 20:03, 3 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Moving forwards, I've asked at Wikipedia_talk:Noticeboard_for_India-related_topics, Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Women_in_Red and WikiProject_Resource_Exchange/Resource_Request if anyone can help with an image. Gog the Mild should I now shift this to August or leave it to you? I realise I'm unsure of the protocol here. Thanks! Mujinga (talk) 13:47, 7 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I moved it to the "no specific date" section of TFAR, but left it up, so in that sense, it's already been shifted to the August requests. - Dank (push to talk) 13:58, 7 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks for that Dank :) Mujinga (talk) 14:07, 7 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I moved the request to August 10, I take the point that it's the most germane date and the article that was previously proposed there has been withdrawn or moved. On adding pic, there's been no answer to my requests a week later and I cannot find an appropriate image; for me the Seema Biswas pic does not work since it's an image of an actress playing a different role and when Devi was portrayed by Biswas, she was unhappy with her portrayal in Bandit Queen. Mujinga (talk) 18:59, 15 June 2024 (UTC)


 * Coordinator note: The character limits for TFA blurbs without images are between 1,000 and 1,100 including spaces. The draft blurb above is 1,458 characters and needs trimming if the nomination is to be valid. Thanks. Gog the Mild (talk) 17:39, 15 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the note Gog, I thought I followed the guidance that without a pic the blurb could be longer, I'll have to look into this and if I made a mistake apologise to 750h+ who already raised this point. Mujinga (talk) 18:55, 15 June 2024 (UTC)
 * OK trimmed to 1018 characters. I am sorry you told me the blurb was too long but I was going on a guideline I can no longer find and Gog is of the same opinion as you, so happy to change. Gog the Mild for me this article is now good to go, a suitable image would be nice but I'm afraid to say the likelihood of getting one seems low. Mujinga (talk) 20:51, 15 June 2024 (UTC)