No report lodged about sexual assault on Nur Sajat, say police

PETALING JAYA: The police have not received any report that cosmetics entrepreneur Nur Sajat was sexually assaulted by enforcement officers when she was arrested earlier in 2021.

Selangor police chief Comm Datuk Arjunaidi Mohamed said that the police had only received a report that Nur Sajat was roughed up during an arrest made by Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) in January.

"We opened an investigation under Section 323 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt.

"There was no mention of any sexual assault or molest in the police report," he said on Thursday (Oct 21).

On Nur Sajat's allegation of being roughed up, Comm Arjunaidi said the investigation was still ongoing.

Nur Sajat had claimed she was touched inappropriately while being arrested during the incident.

"They think it was justified because they perceived me as a man. They didn't treat me with any compassion or humanity," Nur Sajat was quoted as saying in a report by the US-based New York Times.

Nur Sajat – who is currently residing in Sydney - claimed her mother was present during the incident and witnessed at least three officers allegedly manhandling and molesting her during the arrest.

She claimed that her mother confronted the officers over their behaviour and was told that their actions were acceptable as Nur Sajat was a man.

The 36-year-old was said to be on the run for the last few months after a blasphemy charge was levelled at her in Malaysia for dressing as a woman.

Nur Sajat was reportedly detained and fined by Thai authorities on Sept 8 for having an invalid passport, and she is then believed to have sought refuge through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).