Once in a while we come across an IPS officer who stands out. 2006 batch IPS officer Dr. Sanjukta Parashar is once such person acclaimed for acting tough against Bodo militants and heading anti-insurgency operations in Assam.
Parashar ranked 85th in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and chose police service. She completed her graduation in Political Science from the Indraprastha College for Women in New Delhi and later went to the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) for her Masters, M.Phil and Ph.D. in International Relations.
Few facts about Dr. Parashar:
– Parashar was first posted as the Assistant Commandant of Makum in 2008. She was soon given the responsibility of controlling the clashes between Bodo and illegal Bangladeshi militants.
– Widely recognised for her commendable service in the force in taking down 16 militants, arresting over 64 and seizing tons of arms and ammunition in just 15 months. She is the face of terror for militant outfits as well. Death threats have not stopped her.
– In 2008, Parashar married Puru Gupta, an IAS officer also posted in Assam. According to reports, Parashar manages to meet her husband once in every two months. She has a two-year-old son. “My mother lives with me and helps me take care of my son,” she had said in an interview.
– Dr Parashar is now appointed as SP at NIA (National Investigation Agency). In December 2018 she was part of the NIA team which visited Washington DC Tuesday to resolve legal issues in the extradition of Tahawwur Rana, who along with David Coleman Headley, is accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
In 2003, she wrote in her blog:
“Police is the most misunderstood function of the government in today’s India. Damned if we do and damned if we don’t..
I want dignity for each and every police man or police woman on the street. There are problems within and there are problems without. While on one side police will be revered only when the corrupt practices inside the police department are weeded out, on the other hand there needs to be a working interface of the community with the police and the policing system so that they understand what the police stands for and what are the constraints of the legal system within which the police has to operate. Tolerance on the whole of the misuse of power and money has to end. However with it needs to end the reliance on hooliganism and demands for street justice. Retribution and revenge are not the marks of a civilized society.
Women have been commodified. Police has been demonized. Politicians have been vilified. In the process we have forgotten what it means to be human.”
(Inputs from various sources. Photos from Dr. Sanjukta Parashar’s Facebok page)