High-Profile Assignment

Her elevation to the position also marks a new milestone in the representation of women in one of the country’s most operationally demanding security formations. Her high-profile assignment marks a major operational deployment under the leadership of the CRPF Director General G.P. Singh.

Parasor succeeds 1996-batch IPS officer Danesh Rana as the IG, CoBRA. The appointment order was issued by the CRPF headquarters recently. “This is the first time that the 10-battalion-strong CoBRA of the CRPF will be headed by a woman officer,” a senior officer said.

Parasor’s appointment comes as security forces continue to operate in challenging environments marked by dense forests, hilly terrain, border areas, and pockets affected by armed insurgency and extremism. Two CoBRA units were recently deployed in Manipur amid efforts to contain armed violence, and a decision has been taken to shift the rest of them to Jammu & Kashmir. The CoBRA battalion played a critical role in eradicating the Naxal menace in the country.

An IPS officer by choice, Parasor’s own career has closely reflected the operational demands of her new assignment. She has been known as the “Iron Lady of Assam” for her courage and conviction. Her reputation was built over years of field assignments involving operational policing in difficult and volatile environments. Her early postings in Assam took her to insurgency-affected areas, where she dealt with armed militant groups, volatile law-and-order situations, and difficult terrain.

Academic Background, Early Career

Her academic background is in political science and international relations. She studied Political Science at Indraprastha College for Women, Delhi University, before pursuing higher studies in International Relations at Jawaharlal Nehru University. She subsequently completed an MPhil and PhD focused on US foreign policy.
Parasor secured an All India Rank (AIR) of 85 in the civil services examination in 2006 and opted for the IPS.

Her first posting came in 2008 as an Assistant Commandant in Makum, Assam. She was subsequently posted to Udalguri, an area that had witnessed violent clashes involving Bodo groups and migrants from Bangladesh. The experience gave her an early grounding in conflict management and field policing in a sensitive region.

Her work during counter-insurgency operations brought her considerable public attention. Images of Parasor carrying an AK-47 while accompanying security personnel during operations circulated widely on social and mainstream media and helped establish her public image as a frontline officer. 

December 2014 Violence In Assam

One of the defining episodes of the period was the December 2014 violence in Assam, when militants of the Songbijit faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB-S) attacked Adivasi communities in Sonitpur and Kokrajhar districts, and she was then posted there as Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP).
Thirty-six people, including women and children, were killed in Sonitpur and another 17 in Kokrajhar. In Sonitpur, 30 victims were from Moitulabasti near Biswanath Chariali, close to the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border, while six were killed in Dhekiajuli.

Sharing anecdotal details about her courage and commitment, one of her colleagues told this reporter, “On that ill-fated day we accompanied Madam [Parasor] to the spot. Dead bodies were spread out, and even we male personnel were hesitant to lift the bodies. But Madam led us from the front and started lifting the bodies on her shoulder to place them in police vans, as they were to be brought to the district headquarters for postmortem and other legal procedures.”

Parasor later broadened her national-security experience through the National Investigation Agency  (NIA), where she served as a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) and handled investigations involving terrorism, extremism and national security. Incidentally, she was brought to the NIA when Singh was with the premier investigating agency. 

CoBRA, CRPF’s Most Specialised Unit

Notably, the CoBRA is among the CRPF’s most specialised operational formations. Raised to conduct high-risk missions in jungle and guerrilla-warfare environments, its commandos are trained in long-range patrols, intelligence-based operations, ambushes and counter-ambushes, as well as operations in areas where improvised explosive devices pose a significant threat.

The force has played a major role in anti-Maoist operations in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Maharashtra, where its personnel operate in difficult forested terrain. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has credited CoBRA commandos with intelligence-led jungle and guerrilla operations against Maoist groups, contributing to the security forces’ campaign against Left-wing extremism.