Could have been saved had she reported abuse earlier: SWAT commando’s brother

Kajal, a Delhi Police officer who died after being assaulted allegedly by her husband, might have survived if she had reported the abuse when it first happened six months ago, according to her elder brother Nikhil Chaudhary.

“About six months ago, he [accused Ankur Kumar] slapped my sister. She called me, and when I went to her house, he promised never to hit my sister again,” Mr. Nikhil Chaudhary said on Thursday.

Kajal, 27, head was struck against a door frame and was hit with a metal dumbbell, allegedly by her husband, during a quarrel on the intervening night of January 22-23.

She succumbed to her injuries at a Ghaziabad hospital on Tuesday. Her husband, who works at the Ministry of Defence, was taken into custody shortly after the attack. Kajal, who joined the force in 2022, had been serving as a commando in the Delhi police’s SWAT unit.

Nikhil Chaudhary, a constable with Delhi Police, said his sister also endured relentless “dowry harassment from her in-laws”.

“Kajal’s mother-in-law told her that her son deserved at least ₹1.5 lakh in cash as a gift, as he has a government job. She also said that her son could have got a family who would have gifted him a car,” Mr. Nikhil Chaudhary said.

He said that at first, his brother-in-law supported his sister, but later, he too began “abusing Kajal over dowry”.

“Ankur used to taunt: What has your family given to me?” Kajal’s brother said.

Police have registered an FIR under Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and Ankur Chaudhary has been sent to judicial custody. An officer said the accused’s mother and sister had also been named in the FIR. “The allegations against them are substantial, but the action will be taken only after ascertaining certain facts,” the officer said.

Kajal was four months pregnant when the assault happened. The couple’s one-and-a-half-year-old son is now living with his maternal grandparents.