CRPF posts first woman IG in Kashmir

New Delhi: IPS officer Charu Sinha has become the first woman commander to head the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) formation in the Kashmir Valley, officials said on Tuesday.

Sinha, a 1996-batch officer of the Telangana cadre, has been appointed as the Inspector General (IG) of CRPF’s Srinagar sector that oversees the deployment of the paramilitary forces’ battalions in Srinagar city of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

The officer was till now serving as the CRPF IG in Jammu. She earlier headed the CRPF formation in Bihar that includes the deployment of the force in anti-Naxal operations in that state.

A few years ago, Sonali Mishra, IPS officer of the 1993-batch Madhya Pradesh cadre, had served as the IG of another paramilitary force, the Border Security Force, in Kashmir.

An order issued by the CRPF headquarters on Monday also posted nine other Inspectors General including 1997-batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre Deepak Ratan to head the Kashmir operations formation of the CRPF in the valley.

The Kashmir operations formation oversees the deployment of CRPF battalions in the Kashmir valley except for Srinagar.

Ratan will replace IPS officer Rajesh Kumar who has been posted as the IG (Northern sector) in Delhi.

The CRPF, country’s largest paramilitary force with about 3.25 lakh personnel, has deployed at least 65 battalions for law and order duties and undertaking specialist counter-terrorist operations in Kashmir.