20th Indian student attacked in Australia

An Indian hospitality student was punched and had his turban removed at the Dandenong station in southeast Melbourne on Monday. This is the 20th attack on Indians in the past one month in Australia.

An Indian hospitality student was punched and had his turban removed at the Dandenong station in southeast Melbourne on Monday. This is the 20th attack on Indians in the past one month in Australia.

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Resham Singh, 22, who came to Australia from Punjab six months ago, was also subjected to taunts such as, “You Indians, you guys should go back”, according to Amit Menghani, president of the Federation of Indian students in Australia, who spoke with the victim over phone.

Singh was returning home around 8:30 pm on Monday when he was attacked at the train station. Two people abused him, left and returned with four others who then punched him, removed his turban and attempted to cut his hair, Menghani said.

“My friends tried to save me,” Singh was reported as saying. He admitted that “education agent back in India never gave me any information of how hard life will be here.”

Three of the attackers were caught on the scene by police, while the other three managed to escape, according to Menghani’s conversation with Singh. The latest attack comes during an Australian tour by seven Indian print and television journalists. They were invited by Australia’s department of foreign affairs and trade to repair Australia’s image in the Indian press.

Sydney’s consul general, Amit Dasgupta told HT that, “it would have benefitted if they could have come earlier, but I don’t think it’s unhelpful of them to come now..”