Three women officers, including one of Indian origin, are suing Scotland Yard over discrimination, racism and sexism claims, The Sunday Times reported. Usha Evans, Nighat Hubbard – the Metropolitan Police’s first Muslim policewoman to be awarded by the Queen – and Catherine Bell have alleged that they were discriminated against by white male officers.
Hubbard said that the male officers had made discriminatory remarks about her and other women on the force, while the three women also alleged the men were allowed to work on more “complex investigations” while they were held back. An internal inquiry had cleared the men and said they had “no case to answer”.
Hubbard had also said the Metropolitan Police was attempting to prevent her from making any employment tribunal claims after she had filed her complaint against the men. Her case adds that one of the senior male officers she had accused, Mick Standing, had been “protected” and allowed to retire early to join the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Bell had reported hearing Standing telling a woman Asian officer that she needed to “grow a beard, shout more and be more masculine.” Standing has denied the allegations and said he was exonerated by the force.
The allegations are dated from between 2013 and 2014.
The Macpherson report had called the police service “institutionally racist” after the murder of a black teenaged boy in 1993.
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