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26-year-old Vandana Katariya scored a hat-trick in the Olympics for the Indian women鈥檚 hockey team - so you might think she would be guaranteed a hero's welcome when she returned home.

But hours after the team lost the bronze medal to Great Britain - a group of men allegedly gathered outside her home in Haridwar shouting abuse.

Why? Because she's a Dalit.

India鈥檚 hockey captain Rani Rampal has criticised what she called the 鈥渟hameful鈥� racist abuse and called people to rise above casteism, but - unlike when black British footballers were abused after Euro 2020 - politicians haven't leapt to her defence.

Beena Pallical is General Secretary for the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights.

"If they could do this to an Olympic star, they could do it to anyone... let's just remember that this week a young Dalit girl, a nine-year-old child, was raped and murdered in Delhi and nobody said anything. It didn't create a public outrage. So somehow I think people have become immune to this."

(Photo: Vandana Katariya celebrates with teammates after scoring. Credit: Reuters)

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