Director General of Police, UP Police Mahila Samman Prakoshth

Sutapa Sanyal is the highest-ranking woman I.P.S. officer in Uttar Pradesh and heads the Mahila Samman Prakoshth (MSP), a unique police initiative to empower over 130 million women and children in India's most populous state.

At MSP, Ms. Sanyal  has created 9 award-winning programs for ending Violence Against Women and boosting gender equality. These interventions include Vikalp(a portal for reporting crimes against women, that leverages ICT for women empowerment); Nav Chetna(a training program for the gender-sensitization of police officers); CitizenCadet (a program for channelizing the informal leadership amongst women collectives); Akshaya (a program for training girls in self-defence) and Ru -ba-ru (a "cop connect" program for students). Most of these programs have been propagated by the Bureau of Police Research and Development to several other states as well.

She has also been instrumental in setting up Child-friendly Police Stations and Special Juvenile Police units across UP.

On the invitation of the British High Commission, Ms. Sanyal  participated ina Women Leaders Delegation to the UK, to discuss and develop strategies to prevent Violence Against Women (VAW). She was also nominated to represent India at the Specialists Group on the Protection of Children at INTERPOL, in Lyon, France recently.

As a member of  the Govt. of India's Micro Mission 07, she has been the convener of the sub-group which recommended  policy suggestions on "Preventive Strategies  for Crime Against Women."

For her service, Ms. Sanyal has been awarded the Police Medal for Long and Meritorious Service and the  President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Services. She is also the recipient of the FICCI-FLO Award for Outstanding Policewoman, the Human Rights Award given by the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Security Watch India (SWI) Award and the DEVI Women's Award of the Indian Express Group.

She holds certifications in gender studies from Johns Hopkins University and in managementfrom London Business School,and has been a speaker on women empowerment at various forums including the India Today State of States Conclave, IIM, and FICCI.