Meet IPS Officer Sanjukta Parasor: 1st Woman to Head CRPF’s Elite CoBRA Unit
Senior IPS officer Sanjukta Parasor has taken charge as Inspector General of the Central Reserve Police Force’s elite Commando Battalion for Resolute Action, or CoBRA, becoming the first woman officer to head the specialised jungle-warfare formation.
Parasor, a 2006-batch Indian Police Service officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, brings a background shaped by counter-insurgency work, field policing and national security investigations. Her appointment places her in command of one of the CRPF’s most specialised operational units, which is deployed in some of the country’s toughest internal security environments.
The posting is a first for the force since CoBRA was raised. It also adds a new milestone for women officers in India’s security services, with a woman IPS officer now leading the CRPF’s elite formation trained for jungle warfare and anti-insurgency duties.
A first for CoBRA
CoBRA is one of the CRPF’s most highly trained combat formations and is primarily tasked with counter-insurgency and anti-Naxal operations in difficult jungle terrain. Its battalions are made up of commandos trained to work in conditions where regular policing and standard security operations are often not enough.
The force was created for operations in areas affected by Left Wing Extremism and insurgency, and its personnel are prepared for missions that demand mobility, endurance and the ability to operate in remote forested regions. Their training covers jungle warfare, guerrilla tactics, intelligence-based operations, long-range patrols, ambush and counter-ambush techniques, survival skills and work in areas vulnerable to improvised explosive devices.
Over the years, CoBRA units have been deployed extensively in some of the country’s most challenging operational theatres, particularly in forested and remote areas affected by Maoist violence.
Parasor’s operational background
Parasor has spent much of her career in sensitive and demanding assignments, especially in Assam. Her experience includes counter-insurgency operations and field policing in areas affected by militant activity, giving her familiarity with the security challenges posed by insurgency and difficult terrain in the Northeast.
In addition to operational policing, she has also served with the National Investigation Agency, which has added experience in terrorism-related and national security investigations to her profile. Her career, therefore, has combined ground-level policing with specialised investigative work in the security domain.
Leadership of a specialised force
As Inspector General of CoBRA, Parasor will now oversee a force designed for some of the most demanding internal security operations in the country. The appointment places her at the helm of a formation that has been central to the CRPF’s response to insurgency and Left Wing Extremism in difficult terrain.
Her elevation is being viewed as a notable development within the CRPF, both because of the nature of the command and because it is the first time a woman officer has been given charge of the specialised unit since its inception.
