Another Indian attacked in Melbourne

Melbourne: Racial attacks against Indians continued unabated here with a 25-year-old becoming the latest victim.

As a youth battled for life after being stabbed by a group of teenagers, Australia pledged on Thursday that “victimisation” of foreign students would not be tolerated.

In a fresh incident, Baljinder Singh was attacked on Monday night when two men carrying weapons approached him and demanded money.

Mr. Singh was stabbed in the abdomen even as he was searching his bag for his wallet, the Herald Sun reported. When the terrified Indian screamed, his attackers laughed and fled.

“I bent down and one guy stabbed me,” Mr. Singh was quoted as saying. “I just wanted to save my life and yelled ‘just don’t kill me’.”

“We’re not safe here now,” he said. “I thought it was safe here, that’s why I came to Australia.”

The latest attack came as Shravan Kumar, a 25-year-old student from Andhra Pradesh, fought for life in a hospital here after he was stabbed with a screwdriver by a group of teens in a weekend attack that also left three of his friends injured.

Indian Consul-General Anita Nair visited Shravan on Wednesday and said doctors were not very optimistic about his recovery.

In a statement in Parliament, Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Julia Gillard said she wanted to “send a message loud and clear that international students are very welcome in this nation.”

In a related development, Australian police arrested two teenagers allegedly involved in a racist attack on Indian student Saurabh Sharma on a Melbourne train earlier this month.

Sharma, 21, was beaten up and robbed by a group of teenagers on a train on May 9.

“House burgled”

Meanwhile, an organisation of Indian students here has claimed that the house of the four Indian youths attacked over the weekend with a screwdriver has been burgled.

“They have no clothes or anything left in the house and the students are really feeling insecure and unsafe,” said Gautam Gupta, President of the Federation of Indian Student Association (FISA).

“They believe it was done by members of the same group which assaulted them during the weekend,” he said. — PTI