Sanjukta Parashar Becomes 1st Woman to Head CRPF's CoBRA

By: Women Entrepreneurs Review Team | Wednesday, 16 September 2026

IPS officer Sanjukta Parashar has become the first woman to head the Central Reserve Police Force’s (CRPF) elite CoBRA unit, taking charge as its Inspector General. A 2006-batch officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, Sanjukta is known for her counter-insurgency experience and has been referred to as the “Iron Lady of Assam.”

Sanjuka has served in several roles in Assam and previously worked with the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Her career includes experience in counter-insurgency operations and national security investigations, providing her with both field and investigative experience.

CoBRA, or Commando Battalion for Resolute Action, is a specialized CRPF force trained for jungle and guerrilla warfare. Established in 2008–09, the unit was primarily created to conduct operations against Left-Wing Extremism and has also been deployed in parts of the Northeast.

Key Highlights:

• Sanjukta becomes the first woman to head CRPF’s CoBRA unit
• Sanjukta brings counter-insurgency and national security experience from her career in Assam Police and the NIA
• Her appointment highlights the growing role of women officers in key CRPF operational positions

Sanjuka’s appointment comes as CoBRA continues operations in challenging terrains. The force has been involved in anti-Maoist operations in states including Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, while two CoBRA units were recently deployed in Manipur amid efforts to address armed violence.

The force has also two battalions stationed in Manipur, where ethnic tensions have been rampaging in the region intermittently. Sanjuka’s appointment as IG comes in a series of efforts by CRPF to promote its women officers to key positions, be it operational or combat.

A CRPF official told TOI that the women were being deployed as IG in various areas such as Jammu, CoBRA, Rapid Action Force, North East, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

Vijaya Laxmi, a 2006-batch IPS officer, was posted as IG, Jammu, a sensitive sector, a few days ago. Nitu D Bhattacharya is IG of MP sector and from this sector had supervised the end of Naxalism in Balaghat. Kavita Jalan, an Odisha cadre IPS officer, is leading the North East sector comprising Meghalaya and part of Assam. Archana Shivhare, a Gujarat cadre IPS officer, is IG, Rajasthan.

Officer Seema Dhundia, who joined CRPF as a female officer in the first batch in 1987, is also the officer-in-charge of RAF.

At the beginning of her career as an assistant commandant, Sanjuka had dealt with Bodos and illegal Bangladeshi immigrants' fights. Under her leadership as Sonitpur SP, she had been instrumental in the crackdown against NDFB, resulting in the death of 16 militants and arrest of 64 other militants. Her photograph of her leading the operation with an AK-47 in her hand earned her the name of ‘Iron lady of Assam' and death threats from the Bodo militants.

Sanjukta did her schooling from Guwahati and went to Delhi for further studies. She is a graduate of the Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi with B.A. (Honors) degree in Political Science. She went on to earn an M.A. in International Relations from the School of International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and an M.Phil, and Ph.D. in American Foreign Policy from the same institution.