Victoria refuses to release details of attacks on Indians

Natasha Chaku
Melbourne, Feb 11 (PTI) Admitting that the statistics
of the attacks on Indians in Australia were "problematic",
Victorian police chief Simon Overland has refused to release
the details saying it can be "misinterpreted".
Overland refused to release the statistics on the
grounds that they are "subjective and open to interpretation".
He said information about a victim's race was based on
a subjective assessment of their appearance - and Indians were
included in the broad category of "south Asian appearance".
Such a category could also include those from countries other
than India such as Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, he said.
"The problem with putting the data out there is that
it will be misunderstood and we see this all the time," he was
quoted as saying in the 'The Age' newspaper today.
Overland has earlier commented that Indians were over-
represented as victims of robberies which was different than
Victorian premier John Brumby who said "assaults on Indian
students are under-represented in terms of population share".
Overland said his comments were based on police
intelligence which relied on data that was "problematic".
Because information about crimes affecting a
particular racial group was based on a subjective assessment
of the victim's appearance the data was used only for internal
purposes, he said.
Overland also said he regretted telling Indian
students to "try and look as poor as you can" to avoid
becoming a victim of crime.
Overland said his 'look poor' comments were made as a
"flippant aside".
"I regret making the comment because I think it has
been absolutely misrepresented and I regret having the media
there or the discussion because that hadn't been fairly and
accurately reported," he said.
Justifying his decision not to release the statistics
that would leave many questions about the ongoing attack
crisis unanswered, he said, "Why would I have come out and
said Indians are over-represented if I could have fudged and
said we don't know?"
Over 100 cases of attacks on Indians have been
reported since the last year in Australia, mostly in Victoria,
and the issue has been taken up by top representatives of the
Indian government with their Australian counterparts.
Australia's Victoria University research paper
providing new evidence that Indian students here feel racially
targeted has been also delayed for over two months by Victoria
police as it took time to vet its findings.
The police was given 60 days to review the report's
findings, delaying its release from November last year to
February 16.
Meanwhile, Brumby who supported Overland's remark on
statistics release accused Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu of
insulting Victorians, saying he was speaking with a "forked
tongue" over his controversial declaration that assaults on
Indian students showed Victoria had a racist problem. PTI NC
AHM