The police are investigating the allegation that a transsexual was told to strip and subjected to lewd remarks at the Ipoh district police headquarters.

In the Oct 16 incident, reported exclusively by malayskiakini , Mumtaz, 24, had been arrested and remanded for four days on suspicion of being involved in prostitution.

She was then allegedly forced to strip by three policemen to prove her claim that she had undergone sex change operations in Thailand.

Her request to do so in front of female police officers was rejected on the grounds that the gender classification in her identity card still read 'male'.

According to Bernama , Ipoh police chief Che Sab Hanafiah said Mumtaz, who works as a cook, was detained along with another transsexual by the police for alleged immoral activities after the police seized two condom wrappers from her at Hotel Luck Inn.

"At the end of the remand period, Mumtaz was charged in a court here (Ipoh) for the offence. She pleaded not guilty and claimed trial when the charges were read to her. Mumtaz was freed on bail," he said.

Without disclosing the amount of bail posted, Che Sab said the trial had been set for June next year.

Gender insensitivity

However, Mumtaz, born Abdul Malik Theen Mohamed, had claimed that she was staying with her partner, A Ravichandran, 28, who went out for lunch when she was detained at about 3.30pm.

Mumtaz has a medical certificate from a Bangkok hospital stating that she underwent a 1999 sex change operation and a letter from the National Registration Department approving her application for an identification card (IC) under a new name but without changing her stated gender.

On Saturday, she lodged a report with the Brickfields district police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur over the incident with the help of DAP parliamentarian Teresa Kok.

Kok had described the ill-treatment against Mumtaz as another evidence of blatant police abuse.

"Why do they have to ask her to strip? It only showed that the policemen lack gender sensitivity. Humiliating her in front of the men...they were bullies," she decried.