Behind the Blue Line: My Fight Against Racism and Discrimination in the Met - Hardcover

Gurpal Virdi

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1785903217 ISBN 13: 9781785903212

Publisher: Biteback Publishing, 2018

Synopsis

On Wednesday 15 April 1998, Detective Sergeant Gurpal Singh Virdi was arrested and accused of sending racist hate mail to himself and ethnic minority colleagues. Dismissed from the Metropolitan Police Service, his reputation in ruins, Virdi took his case to an employment tribunal, which judged that he had been a victim of racial discrimination. Completely vindicated, Virdi was reinstated to the job he loved but his travails were far from over. Constantly overlooked for promotion, he realised that by challenging the Met he had effectively ended his career.

Following his retirement from the force and keen to serve his local community, Virdi decided to run for election as a Labour councillor but, prior to the election, he was arrested a second time. The allegations levelled against him were horrifying: he stood accused of sexually assaulting an underage prisoner nearly thirty years earlier. Yet, when the case went to trial, a jury took less than fifty minutes to clear Virdi of all charges, with the judge noting the likelihood of a conspiracy behind the case. But the damage had been done.

Behind the Blue Line is Virdi s deeply shocking account of how one of Britain s biggest institutions brought the apparatus of the state to bear in a campaign to destroy the life of one of its own officers.

About this title

About the Author

Gurpal Virdi grew up in Southall, where he first became aware of the inequalities experienced by ethnic minorities. He decided at a young age to join the police and was the first Asian from Hounslow to join the Met. During his thirty years service, he was very vocal in challenging the mistreatment of ethnic minority communities. In 2012, after leaving the police, Gurpal carried the Olympic Torch from Richmond to Hounslow on Kew Bridge. Now an elected councillor for the London borough of Hounslow, he continues to campaign for equality and human rights. He is a trained tutor for adult education and devotes much of his time to voluntary work.

Edition details

• Publisher: Biteback Publishing
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1785903217
• ISBN 13: 9781785903212
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368