Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya (c. 1947 - 26 August 2019) was the second woman officer in Indian Police Service (IPS) in India, the first being

Kiran Bedi Kiran Bedi (born 9 June 1949) is an Indian social activist, former-tennis player who became the first woman in India to join the officer ranks of the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1972 and was the 24th Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry from ...

. A 1973 batch IPS officer, she was the first woman to become Director General of Police of a state and retired on 31 October 2007 after 33 years of service. She then turned to politics and ran as a candidate of

Aam Aadmi Party The Aam Aadmi Party (; AAP) is a List of political parties in India, political party in India, as one of the national political parties. The AAP was founded in November 2012 by Arvind Kejriwal and his then-companions following the 2011 Indian ...

from

Haridwar Haridwar (; ) is a city and municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India. With a population of 228,832 in 2011, it is the second-largest city in the state and the largest in the district. The city is situated on the ri ...

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

in the

2014 Indian general election General elections were held in India in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014 to elect the members of the 16th Lok Sabha. With 834 million registered voters, they were the largest-ever elections in the world until being surpassed by the 2019 ...

Early life and education

Chaudhary was born in

Himachal Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several pea ...

and lived in

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha ...

and

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

. She was the first child of Madan Mohan Chaudhary. Chaudhary attended the Government College for Women,

. Later, Kanchan completed her

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

(MA) in

English Literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

from Indraprastha College,

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...

, followed by a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

(MBA) degree from the

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (abbreviated as UOW) is an Australian public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney. As of 2017, the university had an enrolment of ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

in 1993. In an interview in 2014, Kanchan explains that she was inspired to become a police officer after her father was caught up in a property matter and was attacked; at that time police officers were not ready to register a case against the attackers. So when she cleared the Civil Services exams, it was clear to her that she would join the Indian Police Services as a path to serving justice.

Career

Chaudhary's career in the Indian Police Services spanned 33 years. She was the second woman (after

) to become an IPS officer. In her batch she was the only female trainee. She was the first woman to be an IPS officer in

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 195 ...

and was the first woman appointed Deputy Inspector General of Police in

Bareilly Bareilly () is a city in Bareilly district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is among the largest metropolises in Western Uttar Pradesh and is the centre of the Bareilly division as well as the historical region of Rohilkhand. The ...

. She was then promoted to be the first woman

Inspector General An inspector general is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is "inspectors general". Australia The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia) (IGIS) is an independent statutory of ...

of the

Uttar Pradesh Police The Uttar Pradesh Police (UP Police), (IAST: ), is the primary law enforcement agency within the Uttar Pradesh state of India. Established in 1863 as the Office of the Inspector General of Police, United Provinces under the ''Police Act, 1861'' ...

. She was the first woman to serve as the Additional Director General of Police in Uttaranchal and then was the first woman promoted to be the Director General of Police in the state. Cases that Chaudhary handled in her career included the murder of seven-time national badminton champion

Syed Modi Syed Modi (31 December 1962 – 28 July 1988), born as Syed Mehdi Hassan Zaidi, was an Indian badminton singles player. He was eight-time National Badminton champion (1980–1987). His most notable achievement at the international badminton ...

in 1987 and the Reliance- Bombay Dyeing case in 1989. During her time as

Assistant Superintendent of Police Assistant superintendent, or assistant superintendent of police (ASP), is a rank that was used by police forces in the British Empire and is still used in many police forces in the Commonwealth. It was usually the lowest rank that could be held b ...

, Malihabad, Uttar Pradesh, she tracked down 13

dacoit Dacoity is a term used for "banditry" in the Indian subcontinent. The spelling is the anglicised version of the Hindi word ''daaku''; "dacoit" is a colloquial Indian English word with this meaning and it appears in the ''Glossary of Colloquial ...

s in a single year. She also investigated several white collar crimes in banks and public sectors. Chaudhary was selected to represent India at the 2004 Interpol meeting in

Cancún Cancún ( ), often Cancun in English (without the accent; or ) is a city in southeast Mexico on the northeast coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. It is a significant tourist destination in Mexico and the seat ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

. She hosted the 2nd Women in Police Conference on 27 July 2005 in

Mussoorie Mussoorie is a hill station and a municipal board, near Dehradun city in the Dehradun district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is about from the state capital of Dehradun and north of the national capital of New Delhi. The hill s ...

, where the President of India,

APJ Abdul Kalam Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (; 15 October 193127 July 2015) was an Indian aerospace scientist and statesman who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. He was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu and studied ...

, was the chief guest. Chaudhary presented on the issues relating to the recruitment, training and continuing of women in police in India at the DGP's Annual Conference and to the Training Heads from across the country on behalf of the Bureau of Police Research and Development. Chaudhary's other interests included writing poetry and participating in dramatics. She also made a guest appearance on the TV series ''Udaan'', which was inspired by her life story. The series was written and directed by her sister

Kavita Chaudhary Kavita Chaudhary is an Indian TV actress, well known for her portrayal of IPS officer Kalyani Singh in Doordarshan series ''Udaan''. She is the younger sister of police officer Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya. Kavita has also made two more te ...

Death

On 26 August 2019, Bhattacharya died at a hospital in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

where she had been receiving care during the previous five to six months. Her body was cremated at the Worli crematorium in Mumbai. She was survived by her husband and two daughters. Uttarakhand Police Director General Law and Order

Ashok Kumar Kumudlal Ganguly (13 October 1911 – 10 December 2001), better known by his stage name Ashok Kumar and also by Dadamoni, was an Indian actor who attained iconic status in Indian cinema and who was a member of the cinematic Ganguly family. He ...

paid tribute to Bhattacharya stating, "She was a simple and sweet-natured person who gave us a free hand while we worked under her when she was the DGP." An official tribute event was held at the department's headquarters on August 27.

Awards

* President's Medal for Long and Meritorious Services in 1989. * President's Medal for Distinguished Services in 1997. * Rajiv Gandhi Award for Excellent All Round Performance and as an Outstanding Woman Achiever, 2004.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhattacharya, Kanchan Chaudhary 1940s births 2019 deaths Indraprastha College for Women alumni Indian police officers Indian police chiefs Aam Aadmi Party candidates in the 2014 Indian general election Aam Aadmi Party politicians Indian women police officers Women in Himachal Pradesh politics 21st-century Indian women politicians 21st-century Indian politicians Year of birth missing