Raised complaint as there were casteist slurs hurled at us, says Olympics star Vandana Katariya’s brother

New Delhi: Hockey player Vandana Katariya’s brother Pankaj on Thursday said his family has raised a formal complaint after some people staying in their area hurled casteist slurs at the family after the women’s team lost the semi-final clash against Argentina.

“Yesterday, we were watching the match between India and Argentina, once we lost the match there were some people who started to burst crackers. We do not know who these people are, I just want to request there should be no politics played on caste discrimination,” Vandana’s brother Pankaj told ANI.

“Once our women’s team lost the match, some people started celebrating, there is an investigation going on. We have complained about the matter as there have been casteist slurs hurled. All these people stay around our area,” he added.

Vandana Katariya’s family in Haridwar was subjected to harassment and casteist slurs after the Indian women’s hockey team lost their semi-final match against Argentina on Wednesday.

It has been reported that a couple of people engaged in celebrating and bursting crackers at a distance from the house. Vandana’s brother Chandrashekhar Kataria informed the Sidcul police station in-charge about this incident in a written complaint and soon the police detained a person who burst crackers.

Sidcul police station SHO Lakhpat Singh Butola confirmed that some people had set off fireworks at a distance from Vandana Kataria’s house, in which a person has been taken into custody while acting on the complaint of Chandrashekhar Kataria.

Vandana Katariya on Saturday scored three of India’s four goals against South Africa in the final pool A hockey game as she became the first Indian woman to register a hat-trick at the Olympics at Oi Hockey Stadium — South Pitch.