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).
CoBRA commandos have been conducting raids to nab insurgents and seize weapons stolen from police armouries in Manipur. 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).
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.
