Watch CBS News

Katie Couric's Notebook: Pink Gang

I don't generally support gang-related activity, but in this case I'll have to make an exception.

The Gulabi Gang, or Pink Gang in Hindi, is a group of women from Uttar Pradesh, one of the poorest parts of India. Led by the feisty Sampat Pal, they travel to different villages, clad in pink saris, to defend abused women and confront corrupt officials.

Pal herself is an unlikely heroine. Illiterate and from a low social caste, she was married off at age 12. But at age 48, she's as brazen as any feminist in the world.

Her group has grown from five women to more than 20,000 in just five years, according to the Daily Beast, and several members have won local elections.

But when politics fail, they take matters into their own hands. "Those officials who don't listen, kick them with your feet," the gang chanted during one march.

Pal is no Gandhi, that's for sure more like a big sister on steroids whose girl-power gang is pretty powerful in pink

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.