THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Young IPS officer Sanjukta Parashar is a tough woman who gave sleepless nights to the Bodo militants. But for Ms. Parashar, it's only a small part of her work.
“Militant operations could be only about 15 percent of the policing activities that I have so far done,” says the 2006-batch IPS officer who had successfully carried out jungle warfare, nabbed over a dozen Bodo militants and seized a huge cache of weapons.
“Carrying heavy weapons and dealing with militants could be gaining more attention. But it is just a part of policing whereas crime investigation and law and order maintenance would be even more challenging,” said Ms.
Parashar in a brief chat with DC on the sidelines of the national conference of women police here on Monday.
Ms Parashar, now serving as Superintendent of Police in Sonitpur district, holds an MPhil and PhD apart from Masters’ degree in International Relations from the JNU.
Having led many operations in the forests, Ms. Parashar said that women and men faced the same level of difficulties in jungle operations. “Of course, jungle warfare is a tedious task. But women do not face any extra difficulties compared to what men face,” she said.
Lamenting the feeble representation of women in police, she stressed the need for sufficient institutional support systems.
“Women in the police in all ranks need better infrastructure and institutional support to fulfil their duties and feel proud of being part of the police. They need to be integrated into mainstream policing,” said Ms. Parashar, who is married to IAS officer Pura Gupta.
Being a police officer of Assam from where women and children frequently move out in search of jobs, Ms. Parashar is also quite concerned about trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation.
“We are carrying out awareness programmes among those prone to be trafficked. NGOs and community outfits are also carrying out awareness programmes against human trafficking.”
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