Another Indian attacked in Oz; one person arrested

Natasha Chaku

Melbourne, Jan 12 (PTI) In yet another attack targeting
Indians in Australia, a 28-year-old man from the community was
beaten up by a group of locals on a Sydney beach, prompting
police to arrest one of the assailants.

The Indian, a permanent resident, was assaulted on Coogee
Beach in Sydney yesterday, authorities said on Tuesday.
The New South Wales Police arrested a person in
connection with the attack and charged him with assault
"occasioning actual bodily harm and affray," they said in a
statement.
A court Tuesday granted the arrested person bail with
conditions. The matter is listed to come up before the court
again on February 24.
Investigations are going on regarding any other
individuals who may have been involved in the incident, the
statement said, adding the victim is being kept informed of
developments by the New South Wales police.
The victim, who refused to be named apparently due to
safety reasons, told PTI that he was kicked and punched by a
group of assailants.
He said he had been living in Australia for the past 11
years and had never experienced such a thing before.
Police arrived 40 minutes after the incident and caught
one person, he said.
While the man did not receive any external wounds, he
said he was having severe pain in his neck, back and head.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said that India
and Australia shared an "excellent relationship" and did not
want the issue of attacks on Indians, mostly students, here to
disturb their ties.
Smith said he rang up his Indian counterpart S M Krishna
yesterday after returning from holidays to brief him about the
investigations.
"We both agreed this was an issue we did not want to
disturb or get in the way of what the External Affairs
Minister (Krishna) described as an excellent relationship," he
was quoted as saying by AAP on Tuesday.
In a strong message, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister
Vayalar Ravi on Monday asked Australia to take "all possible
steps" to contain assaults on Indians, saying it was their
"primary responsibility".
Ravi said in New Delhi that Australia will have to
convince the Indian government and its people about steps
taken to protect Indian citizens.
Nearly 100 cases of attacks on Indians had been
reported in Australia in 2009 as against 17 incidents of
assaults in 2008.
21-year-old student Nitin Garg was the first victim of
such assaults this year, who was stabbed to death by
unidentified assailants while he was on his way to his
part-time job in a restaurant here.
Another Indian youth, 25-year-old Ranjodh Singh, was
killed in the neighbouring New South Wales late last month.
His half-charred body was found on a roadside. However, the
incident was reported only a week back. PTI NC
MYR