Two students who were arrested, strip-searched and charged for violence at a tuition fees protest have been compensated £20,000 by police after officers' testimonies were proved to be inconsistent.
Mature students Ashok Kumar, 29, and Simon Behrman, 36, were arrested as education minister David Willetts gave a lecture at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies in 2011. Police charged Kumar with obstruction, while another officer said Behrman had been violent and struggled with a security guard.
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Both cases, however, were thrown out of court after footage and pictures of the incidents were shown.
Scotland Yard agreed to pay both students £20,000 after admitting there were "inconsistencies" in the officers' accounts.
Representing the men, solicitor Debaleena Dasgupta urged Scotland Yard to investigate, adding: “The police are given immense power and malicious prosecution is one of the grossest abuses of this," the Evening Standard reported.
The Met said that it had begun an investigation. A spokeswoman added: “As a result of video evidence produced as part of a civil claim against the MPS, which we have settled, concern was raised by those viewing the evidence and a DPS investigation opened in August 2013.
“Three officers are the subject of the IPCC supervised investigation.
At no time had we previously received a public complaint in relation to this matter, as soon as we were aware of the video evidence an investigation was launched.”