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Meet Sanjukta Parashar, Assam's 'Iron Lady' And First Woman To Head CRPF's CoBRA Commando Unit
Reports have credited her teams with multiple militant arrests, encounters and seizures of arms and ammunition. She also faced threats from insurgent groups.
Senior IPS officer Sanjukta Parashar, known in Assam as the “Iron Lady", has added another milestone to a career defined by field policing and counter-insurgency operations. The 2006-batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre officer has taken charge as Inspector General of the Central Reserve Police Force’s elite Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), becoming the first woman to head the specialised jungle-warfare unit.
CoBRA is among the CRPF’s specialised formations trained for jungle warfare, guerrilla tactics and counter-insurgency operations. The force has been deployed in areas affected by Left Wing Extremism as well as other difficult security environments. The CRPF has also recently deployed CoBRA battalions in Manipur amid continuing security challenges in the Northeast.
From JNU Classrooms To Assam’s Insurgency Belt
Parashar’s academic background is as distinctive as her policing career. She studied Political Science at Delhi University’s Indraprastha College for Women before pursuing a master’s in International Relations at Jawaharlal Nehru University. She subsequently completed an MPhil and PhD in US foreign policy. She secured All India Rank 85 in the 2006 Civil Services Examination and chose the IPS over the IAS.
Her early career quickly took her into some of Assam’s most difficult security zones. As Assistant Commandant in Makum in 2008, she was involved in handling violent clashes in the state. Later, as Superintendent of Police in Sonitpur, she became known for personally leading operations against insurgents.
A 2015 India Today report described Parashar leading a pre-dawn jungle patrol with an AK-47, accompanied by Assam Police commandos and CRPF personnel. At the time, she was spearheading operations against militants of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland-Songbijit faction.
Her record during her Sonitpur tenure cemented her public image as the “Iron Lady of Assam". Reports have credited her teams with multiple militant arrests, encounters and seizures of arms and ammunition. She also faced threats from insurgent groups during this period.
Parashar’s career has not been confined to field operations. She later moved to the National Investigation Agency on central deputation, gaining experience in counter-terrorism investigations before rising through the ranks. Her combination of operational policing and national-security investigation experience now comes into focus in her new CoBRA assignment.
Parashar has also spoken about the place of women in policing. In an earlier interaction, she said, “Gender is in the mind. There is never any constraint anywhere." She has argued that women officers have repeatedly demonstrated their ability in policing, even as society’s perception of women in uniform continues to evolve.
Her new posting therefore brings her career almost full circle: an officer who built her reputation in the insurgency-affected forests of Assam will now lead a specialised force whose personnel are trained to operate in precisely such demanding terrain.
For CoBRA, Parashar brings years of experience in field operations, counter-insurgency and national-security investigations. For the CRPF, her appointment also marks a new chapter in the representation of women at senior operational levels of one of India’s most specialised security formations.
Senior IPS officer Sanjukta Parashar, a 2006-batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre officer, is the first woman to head the Central Reserve Police Force's (CRPF) elite Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA). Known as the "Iron Lady of Assam", she has taken charge as the Inspector General (IG) of this specialized jungle-warfare unit.
