Woman to sue police for making her undress to ascertain her gender because she sported a beard

KENYAN woman Teresiah Mumbi plans to sue the country's police force after two female officers forced her to undress so they could determine her gender after disputing the fact that she was not male because she sported a beard.

A motorpark conductor, Ms Mumbi, 31, said she was stripped on May 15 after being arrested for a traffic offence in the Kenyan city of Kariobangi. Officers who stopped her refused to accept that she was female and forced her to undress so they could ascertain that she was indeed female.

Ms Mumbi said: “Those two female officers came and demanded that I undress and I put my legs apart. After they were satisfied they let me back to the cell.

“I even stopped working as I do not want another incident like that. Is this justice? If these are the officers mandated to provide security, what will happen to me in public?”

She added that she stopped shaving her beard because her face became very itchy every time she did so. According to Ms Mumbi, she pleaded with the officers not to humiliate her during her arrest on May 15 but they proceeded to.

According to Ms Mumbi the policemen demanded a bribe of KSh400 (£3) after she had been arrested with other minibus touts for a traffic offence. She suffers from an excessive hair growth condition known as hypertrichosis.