A feminist campaigner has slammed the Metropolitan Police after alleging that she has been investigated for almost a year over a social media post about a transgender doctor.
Maya Forstater said officers launched a probe into a tweet she made in June last year in which she claimed Dr Kamilla Kamaruddin "enjoys intimately examining female patients without their consent".
It followed a blog post by the GP, who transitioned from male to female, in which she wrote about being allowed to perform “more intimate examinations that patients did not permit when I was a male GP.”
The alleged offence carries a punishment of up to two years in prison.
Maya Forstater said officers launched a probe into a tweet she made about a trans doctor in June last year
PAThe post linked to a previous blog article in which Forstater challenged Kamaruddin on whether female patients could truly consent to being examined by her.
Kamaruddin was a former GP in transgender healthcare at Tavistock Gender Identity Clinic and is currently GP Lead clinician at the East of England Gender Service.
Forstater said she first received an email from the Metropolitan Police in August last year.
She said the force informed her that she was being investigated for "malicious communication" but was not told why.
The 51-year-old, who launched the charity Sex Matters, won an employment tribunal after alleging that she had been discriminated against because of her beliefs after being sacked as a tax expert over posting gender critical messages.
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She was interviewed under caution at Charing Cross police station and claims an officer asked her if she realised her tweet could be viewed as "transphobic".
"I think the investigation shouldn’t have even got as far as questioning me. My tweet isn’t even something that would get deleted by Twitter, let alone for it to be a crime," she told The Times.
"Being threatened with arrest and then having a police investigation hanging over my head for almost a year now has been very stressful."
Forstater remains under investigation - 10 months after first being contacted by police.
A blog post by the former GP, who transitioned from male to female, in which she wrote about being allowed to perform “more intimate examinations that patients did not permit when I was a male GP," was published
The women's campaigner said she is still unaware if she will be "charged and prosecuted" and feels "the police ha[ve] given no consideration to the contents of my blogpost about Dr Kamaruddin".
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Since this allegation was reported in June 2023, a number of enquiries have been carried out by officers.
"These enquiries are ongoing. While it is right that we carry out a full investigation, we do recognise the length of time this has taken so far and the impact it will undoubtedly have had on all parties."
