IPS Sanjukta Parashar becomes first woman to head CRPF’s elite CoBRA force
When the Central Reserve Police Force needed a new commander for its most specialised jungle warfare unit this September, it looked to an officer whose name has followed Assam’s insurgency story for nearly two decades.
Sanjukta Parashar, the 2006-batch IPS officer once nicknamed the Iron Lady of Assam, has become the first woman to head the CRPF’s Commando Battalion for Resolute Action, or CoBRA, since the force was raised in 2008-09.
She succeeds 1996-batch officer Danesh Rana as Inspector General of the 10-battalion unit. The unit trains commandos for jungle and guerrilla warfare against Left Wing Extremism and insurgency in India’s northeast. A senior officer told the Press Trust of India that it marks the first time in CoBRA’s history that a woman has led the entire force.
Parashar’s introduction to frontline policing came in Udalguri, where communal clashes between Bodo groups and migrants tested a young assistant commandant fresh off her 2008 posting to Makum.
It was her stint as Superintendent of Police in Sonitpur, however, that made her name. Leading operations against the National Democratic Front of Bodoland through 2013 and 2014, her teams killed 16 militants and arrested 64.
The run of operations turned her into the subject of national profiles built around the nickname, even as militant groups issued death threats against her.
Before Assam, Parashar had cleared the UPSC Civil Services Examination in 2006 with an All India Rank of 85.
She studied political science at Indraprastha College for Women in Delhi before earning a master’s degree, an MPhil, and a PhD in international relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her doctoral research focused on American foreign policy.
Parashar’s career did not stay confined to Assam. She moved to central deputation with the National Investigation Agency, first as Superintendent of Police and later as Deputy Inspector General.
She led the investigation into the 2017 Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train bombing and received the Union Home Minister’s Medal for Excellence in Training in April 2022 while serving as an NIA DIG.
She later returned to her home cadre as Inspector General of Assam Police’s Crime Investigation Department, a posting she held before her CoBRA appointment came through.
CoBRA’s commandos specialise in intelligence-based jungle operations, long-range patrols and counter-ambush tactics. Its battalions are currently deployed against Left Wing Extremism as well as in Manipur amid continuing unrest.
The force first opened its ranks to women in February 2021, when 34 personnel from its all-women battalions began pre-induction training.
Parashar’s appointment as its overall commander marks a different order of milestone five years on. Reports indicate women officers currently also head CRPF’s Jammu, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and northeast sectors, making her posting part of a wider pattern.
