Tokyo: Indian women’s hockey team forward Vandana Katariya is trying her best to stay away from a controversy over caste. After the Indian women’s hockey team lost in the semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics a couple of days back, casteist slurs were allegedly hurled at her family. Vandana Katariya said here Friday that police are probing the incident.
After India’s defeat Wednesday, two men danced and burst firecrackers outside Katariya’s house in the Roshnabad area of Haridwar. They did so in a gesture of mockery, an official at SIDCUL police station said. Some members of Katariya’s family came out hearing the noise. The two men then passed casteist remarks against them. They said the team had lost because it had too many Dalit players in it, the official said.
“I won’t like to comment on this matter. I have heard a little bit about it. I have spoken to my family and they said all is well with them. The police is investigating this,” Katariya said after the team’s fourth-place finish in the Games here Friday. In the third-fourth play-off match India lost 3-4 to Rio Olympic Games gold medallist Great Britain.
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Police arrested one person after a complaint was lodged by the brother of Katariya. He has a heated argument with the two men involved in the incident.
The arrested man, identified as Vijay Pal, has been booked under section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of the Indian Penal Code and the SC-ST Act, the official said.