‘Iron Lady’ Sanjukta Parashar becomes 1st woman to head CRPF’s CoBRA unit

Sanjukta Parashar, 47, a 2006 batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, has become the first woman officer to head the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)’s special counter-insurgency and asymmetrical warfare unit, the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA).

Parashar took over CoBRA months after the Union government moved two battalions of the unit to ethnic violence-hit Manipur, where protracted conflict since May 2023 has left over 306 people dead and 49 missing. CoBRA commandos have been conducting raids to nab insurgents and seize weapons stolen from police armouries in Manipur.

CoBRA, which was raised in 2008 at the peak of Maoist insurgency for jungle warfare, played a key role in ending Left Wing Extremism. Union home minister Amit Shah told Parliament this year that the March 31 deadline for ending Maoism across the country had been met, with the surrender of 4,839 insurgents, the killing of 706, and the arrest of 2,218 over the three years of heightened anti-Maoist operations.

In May, the CRPF announced plans to raise an 11th CoBRA battalion for counter-terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir.

Parashar, who has been on deputation with the CRPF since August, replaced 1996 batch Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, and Union Territories cadre IPS officer Danish Rana as CoBRA inspector general (IG). She was named the CoBRA IG on Friday.

Parashar has led counter-insurgency operations in the northeast, where the media dubbed her the Iron Lady. She has served as an Assam Police superintendent, headed the state’s Crime Investigation Department, and been part of the federal counterterrorism law enforcement and investigative agency, the National Investigation Agency (NIA).