About

Sutapa Sanyal

First woman to hold Director General of Police rank in Uttar Pradesh

35 years in public service and leadership

When Sutapa Sanyal joined the Indian Police Service in 1984, few women occupied senior positions in Indian policing. She built her career across policing, public administration, human rights, civil defence and security. She later became the first woman to hold Director General of Police rank in Uttar Pradesh.

The rank was a milestone. Her larger work was to make institutions more responsive to the people they served. Sutapa founded the U.P. Police Mahila Samman Prakoshth, a unit focused on the safety and empowerment of women and children. It created new channels between citizens and the police. Vikalp enabled online reporting of crimes against women and children. Nav Chetna trained law-enforcement officers on gender equality, while Akshaya supported self-defence and leadership training for girls. The unit worked with UNICEF, ActionAid and Plan India and supported child-friendly policing across the state.

Her public service was recognised with the President’s Police Medal. While serving in the IPS, Sutapa was Advisor (Security) to GAIL India Ltd., responsible for the protection of people and assets across its operations. The role formed part of a career shaped by governance, risk, workplace safety and institutional responsibility.

Sutapa now brings that experience to the stage and to senior leaders. Her TEDx talk, “Be the CEO of Your Own Life,” examines personal leadership and ownership. She has spoken at FICCI, CII, Maersk Equal At Sea, One Globe Forum and SCOPE. She has also worked with Boeing, Taj Group, Reliance Jio, EY, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance and Trilegal, and addressed audiences at the London School of Economics, IIM Calcutta and IIM Lucknow.

Her work today is centred on ethical leadership and governance, culture and institutional change, and women’s leadership. The common thread is clear: leadership must create systems that are trusted, accountable and able to last.