Lipstick party is neither the name of a gang of muggers nor any extortion or dope gangs which is active in the city ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr. It is a small unit of law enforcers fighting different crimes like mugging before the religious festival.
Detective Branch of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police launched the special unit named lipstick party just five days ago. At least five teams of both male and female police officers are now working as members of the lipstick party.
Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of Detective Branch of police, said: “Lipstick party is working mostly in Dhanmondi and Gulshan areas. We usually take different steps before Eid to combat crimes. It is one of them. We are getting good results.”
Police officers disguise themselves while they are on duty. The female police officers wear makeup and heavy ornaments, travel by rickshaws in target areas during the night and male police officers follow them in other rickshaws. The male officers come to the rescue of the female officers if attacked by criminals. They are also allowed to shoot the muggers.
They start carrying out the duty in the evening and continue till 8:00pm. In a bid to attract the snatchers, female officers wear attractive ornaments. They will remain active till the day before Eid. Male members are seen wearing white clothes.
Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner (media and public relations) of the DMP, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Police formed different teams to fight crimes. The lipstick party has no special meaning. It was given from the department.”
“Already the team members have caught some muggers. Earlier, we had formed another team when laptop snatching was on the rise. We can’t reveal more information about the team due to security reasons.”
According to the DMP, muggers mostly attack female passengers and snatch their jewellery.