Sonali Mishra, RPF's first woman chief, retires; Jitendra Kumar succeeds her

Sonali Mishra, the first woman to head the Railway Protection Force (RPF) in its more than 140-year history, retired as its Director General on October 31, 2026, on reaching superannuation. The force marked her exit with an inspection-cum-farewell parade at the 6th Battalion of the Railway Protection Special Force at Dayabasti in New Delhi. Her successor is Jitendra Kumar, a 1993-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Bihar cadre, whose appointment as RPF Director General until March 31, 2030 was approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet in October.

The Railway Protection Force is the armed force of the Union that protects railway property, passengers and passenger areas across the country's rail network. Its chief oversees a force that deals with everything from crowd control at major stations during festivals to crime on trains and the rescue of children found alone at stations. For a woman to reach the top of such a force was a first, and Mishra's appointment in 2025 was widely noted for that reason.

Her own path to the top ran through more than three decades in the IPS, in the Madhya Pradesh cadre, including senior administrative work such as police recruitment before she took command of a central force. Her successor comes from the same 1993 batch of the service. Like hers, his appointment was cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, which approves the top posts in the central government, and it runs until his own retirement date in March 2030.

The RPF runs several programmes that bear directly on women and children who travel by train, including Meri Saheli, which focuses on the security of women passengers and was extended to all zonal railways in October 2020, and Nanhe Farishte, a nationwide drive that has reunited more than 84,000 children with their families since 2018, according to published figures. These programmes predate her tenure, and continuing them now falls to her successor.

With her retirement, the RPF is again led by a man. That a woman heading a central police force is still treated as news shows how rare such appointments have been. Whether her tenure becomes a one-off or the start of a pattern will depend on how many women officers are in line for senior command in the coming years.

Short-term: Jitendra Kumar takes over the RPF as the festival travel season peaks, with Diwali and Chhath crowds expected at major stations in November.

Long-term: Mishra's appointment as the first woman RPF chief has set a precedent; how often women officers reach the top of central forces will shape whether it becomes routine.

Who is affected: RPF personnel; railway passengers, especially women and children who rely on the force's protection; and women officers in the IPS and central forces who see in her career a path to the top.

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