Man held for passing casteist remarks against hockey player Vandana Katariya

A man was arrested from the Roshnabad area of Uttarakhand’s Haridwar district for allegedly making a mockery of and passing casteist remarks against the family of Vandana Katariya who was part of India’s women’s hockey team which lost to Argentina in a semifinal match at the Tokyo Olympics, police said on Thursday.

Soon after the team went down against Argentina, two men allegedly danced and burst firecrackers outside Vandana’s house in the Roshnabad area in a gesture of mockery on Wednesday evening, an official at SIDCUL police station said.

When some members of Vandana’s family came out hearing the noise outside their house, the two men also passed casteist remarks against the family, saying the team had lost because it had too many Dalit players in it, he said.

A heated argument also took place between members of the family and the two men involved in the incident, following which a complaint was lodged by Vandana’s brother, the official said.

A man, identified as Vijay Pal, has been arrested and booked in connection with the incident 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.

The other man involved in the incident has not been arrested yet, he said.