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

Nur Sajat, who was recently granted asylum in Australia, has alleged that she had been groped by religious enforcement officers.

“We opened an investigation under Section 323 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt,” the Star reported Arjunaidi as saying today.

“There was no mention of any sexual assault or molest in the police report,” he said.

In the interview with the New York Times, Nur Sajat said her mother witnessed the assault and confronted one officer, asking how pious Muslims could do something like that.

But Nur Sajat, a transgender woman, claimed the religious officer said it was “okay” on the grounds that the former “was a man”.

“They think it is justified to touch my private parts and my breasts because they perceive me as a male person,” Nur Sajat added.

After the incident, Nur Sajat made a police report, and a few days later the authorities said a religious department enforcement officer was called in to give a statement.

She said her troubles began in January when she was summoned to the religious department. She met the officials, along with several friends and family members, and was told they had received public complaints about her.

While inside, she said at least three men kicked her, pinned her down and groped her. She was then placed overnight in a male detention facility.