Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya Biography 
Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya was a 1973 batch IPS officer from Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. She was the second woman officer in Indian Police Service (IPS) in India, after Kiran Bedi. She is the first woman to become Director General of Police of a state, who had 33 years of service in Indian police department. After retirement she also had a brief stint in politics, associated with AAP, and unsuccessfully contested 2014 general elections. She passed away most recently on 26 August 2019. She was 72. The popular TV series of 1980s, Udaan was inspired from the professional life of Kanchan. She also made a guest appearance in the show.
Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya was born in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh in year 1947. She was a single girl child to her parents. She lived in Amritsar and Delhi. She completed her graduation from Amritsar followed by Master’s degree from Delhi and MBA from University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. Once her father was caught and attacked by police related to a property matter and police officers were not ready to register a case against the attackers. This incident inspired Kanchan to join police force and serve justice. She cleared civil service exams and became 1973 batch IPS officer, only the second woman police officer from the country.
During her training period, she was the only lady of the group. She was the first woman to be an IPS officer in Uttar Pradesh and was the first woman appointed Deputy General Inspector of Police in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. She later served as Inspector General of the Uttar Pradesh Police, the first woman officer to decorate this post, and also Additional Director General of Police in Uttaranchal and the first woman Director General of Police. She was interested in dramatics and also wrote poetry.
Published: January 05, 2020
Updated: January 05, 2020
