Expect action, India tells Australia on Indian student stabbed 11 times on road

Shubham Garg, a 28-year-old IIT-Madras graduate pursuing a PhD at the University of New South Wales, was stabbed 11 times in a knife attack on October 6

NEW DELHI: India said on Friday that it expects Australian authorities to take action against those responsible for attacking and injuring an Indian student named Shubham Garg in Sydney earlier this month.

Agra: Family members of Shubham Garg, a 28-year-old Indian student and IIT-Madras alumni who was attacked with a knife by a man in Australia, at their residence in Agra, Friday (PTI)

Garg, a 28-year-old IIT-Madras graduate pursuing a PhD at the University of New South Wales, was stabbed 11 times in a knife attack on October 6. He is currently recuperating in a hospital in Sydney, and his relatives were granted visas by the Australian high commission in Delhi on Friday so that they can visit him.

Describing the attack as an “unfortunate” and “shocking incident”, external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told a regular news briefing that the Indian high commission in Canberra and the consulate in Sydney are in close touch with Australian authorities regarding the incident.

“We are also in contact with his family here. An Indian official visited him in hospital on Thursday and we have extended consular services to him,” Bagchi said.

Bagchi said he didn’t want to speculate whether the incident involving Garg was a racial attack. “The focus right now is on his treatment and that he is out of danger,” he said.

Garg’s family, which is based at Agra in Uttar Pradesh, has alleges the incident was a hate crime but people familiar with the matter said this was yet to be ascertained. The family had earlier asked the government to help in obtaining visas for Garg’s relatives to travel to Australia.

The student travelled to Australia last month after graduating from IIT-Madras.

Garg was attacked late on October 6, when he was going home after withdrawing cash from an ATM. Reports said he was approached by a man who threatened him with a knife and demanded his money. When Garg refused, the attacker repeatedly stabbed him and ran away.

He underwent surgery for multiple injuries to his face, chest and abdomen.

One person, identified as 27-year-old Daniel Norwood, has been arrested and was taken to Chatswood police station where he was charged with one count of attempted murder, reported local media outlet The Australia Today.