Sanjukta Parashar first woman to head CRPF’s CoBRA commando unit

Sanjukta Parashar

NEW DELHI: IPS officer Sanjukta Parashar, called the ‘Iron Lady of Assam’, has become the first woman officer to lead CRPF’s jungle warfare commando unit, CoBRA.Parashar, a 2006-batch officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, earned the moniker of Iron Lady after leading the crackdown against militant outfit National Democratic Front of Bodoland in 2013-14 as the then Sonitpur SP.

Studied at DU, JNU

Parashar, who is from Assam, has served both in her cadre as well as in NIA, specialising in key counter-terror investigations. She was heading the CID wing of Assam Police before being appointed IG, CoBRA.She will head CoBRA at a time when the force is engaged in holding and securing large forest areas, mostly in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, reclaimed from Naxals. These operations played a key role in almost eliminating Left-wing extremism in the country by March 2026.Two battalions of the force are also posted in Manipur, which has been witnessing intermittent violence fuelled by ethnic tensions.

Parashar posting part of CRPF’s push to put women in lead

Parashar’s appointment as IG, CoBRA is part of a larger push by CRPF to place its women officers in lead roles, including ones that are operations- and combat-heavy.“Women are heading sectors like Jammu, CoBRA, Rapid Action Force, North East, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh as IG,” a CRPF officer told TOI.

A few days ago, A Vijaya Laxmi, a 2006-batch IPS officer, was posted as IG, Jammu, a sensitive sector. Nitu D Bhattacharya heads MP sector as IG and oversaw the end of Naxalism in Balaghat. Kavita Jalan, an Odisha cadre IPS officer, is heading the North East sector that includes the whole of Meghalaya and parts of Assam. Archana Shivhare, a Gujarat cadre IPS officer, is IG, Rajasthan.

RAF is also led by officer Seema Dhundia, inducted in the CRPF in 1987 as part of the first batch of female officers.Parashar had, at the start of her career as an assistant commandant, handled clashes between Bodos and illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. As Sonitpur SP, she led a crackdown on NDFB, leading to the killing of 16 militants and the arrest of 64 others. Her picture leading an operation with an AK-47 in her hand earned her the title ‘Iron Lady of Assam’, as well as death threats from Bodo militants.