Sanjukta Parashar Becomes First Woman to Head CRPF’s Elite CoBRA Unit
Dr Sanjukta Parashar, the Assam-Meghalaya cadre Indian Police Service officer widely known as the “Iron Lady of Assam,” has taken charge as Inspector General of the Central Reserve Police Force’s elite Commando Battalion for Resolute Action, or CoBRA. With this appointment, she has become the first woman officer to head the CRPF’s specialised jungle-warfare force.
The CRPF headquarters issued the order last week, and Parashar has now assumed operational command from 1996-batch IPS officer Danesh Rana. A senior officer told PTI that this is the first time the ten-battalion CoBRA formation will be led by a woman.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had earlier appointed her as Inspector General in the CRPF on central deputation, with the order issued on 6 August 2026. Her latest posting places her in direct charge of a force built for some of the most difficult internal-security tasks in the country.
What CoBRA does
CoBRA, short for Commando Battalion for Resolute Action, was raised by the CRPF in 2008–09 to carry out intelligence-based jungle and guerrilla warfare operations against Left Wing Extremism in several states, as well as against insurgency in parts of the Northeast. Its personnel are trained for long-range missions in dense forests, ambushes and counter-ambushes, IED threats and precision action against armed militants.
The unit has been deployed extensively in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Maharashtra. Two CoBRA units were also recently sent to Manipur to help check armed violence. The Ministry of Home Affairs has credited CoBRA commandos with operations that contributed to the end of Maoist violence in the country in March 2026.
Born on 3 October 1979 in Assam, Parashar studied Political Science at Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi, before going on to complete a Master’s degree, MPhil and PhD in International Relations and American foreign policy at Jawaharlal Nehru University.
She secured All India Rank 85 in the 2005 UPSC Civil Services Examination and opted for the IPS over the IAS. She joined the service on 29 August 2006 and became the first Assamese woman IPS officer posted directly in Assam under the cadre.
Her early assignments included Makum and Udalguri, where she dealt with ethnic clashes. As Superintendent of Police in Sonitpur, she led 16 major encounter operations over 15 months. During that period, 16 militants were killed and 64 were arrested.
Parashar was also known for accompanying personnel into forest terrain during operations involving Assam Police commandos and CoBRA troops. Those field postings earned her the public sobriquet “Iron Lady of Assam.” She later served as Deputy Inspector General in the National Investigation Agency, where she handled national-security and counter-terrorism investigations.
Her service has been recognised with the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service, the Union Home Minister’s Medal for Excellence in Police Training in 2022, and the Rani Gaidinliu Zeliang Award.
The new assignment brings together two strands of Parashar’s career: operational policing in Assam’s insurgency-affected forests and investigative work at the NIA. For a force whose core duties involve jungle warfare, intelligence-led action and operating in hostile terrain, that background is directly relevant.
Her appointment is also being seen as an important moment for women officers in the command structure of India’s paramilitary forces. She now leads one of the CRPF’s most demanding specialised formations at a time when CoBRA remains active in the last pockets of Left Wing Extremism and in sensitive internal-security theatres such as Manipur.
