Dehradun:
Uttarakhand Governor Baby Rani Maurya Tuesday expressed grief at the death of former state police chief and the country’s first woman DGP Kanchan Chaudhry Bhattacharya saying she symbolised women empowerment.
“She was a living example of women empowerment and will remain a role model for generations of women. By rising to the top in the police force she proved there was nothing women could not achieve,” the Governor said in a condolence message.
She prayed for peace to the departed soul and strength for her family members to bear the loss.
An IPS officer of 1973 batch, Bhattacharya was ill for sometime and had passed away in Mumbai on Monday.
The Uttarakhand Police also condoled the death of the former state police chief saying her valuable services can not be forgotten.
In a message issued on the social media, the state police said it commiserates with the family of the former Uttarakhand DGP and remembers her for her valuable services.
The Uttarakhand IPS Association also condoled her death describing her as a woman who possessed “superb qualities of the heart and mind”.
Bhattacharya achieved the distinction of becoming the country’s first woman DGP in 2004 when she took over as the head of the state police force.
She was the country’s second woman IPS officer after Kiran Bedi.
Bhattacharya became Uttarakhand DGP during Narayan Dutt Tiwari’s chief ministership and had retired in 2007.
She also contested the Lok Sabha elections from Haridwar on an Aam Aadmi Party ticket in 2014.
Bhattacharya’s younger sister Kavita Chaudhry had made a popular TV serial named ‘Udaan’ in the late 1980s based on the inspiring life of her elder sister.
