Another low blow from Australia

Race-based violence against Indian students in Australia spread to Adelaide, when a 22-year-old Sikh student was racially taunted and beaten in a mall in the southern Australian city on Thursday. 

This is the 12th such attack on Indian students Down Under. “The student was out with his friends in Rundle Mall in Adelaide when a teenager picked on him and taunted him about his turban,” Federation of Indian Students of Australia founder Gautam Gupta told DNA. 

The student, who did not wish to be identified, suffered injuries to his face and had one of his teeth dislodged, Gupta added. Vikram Madan, president of the Indian Australian Association of South Australia, said the student had suffered a minor fracture to his jaw and a broken rib. 

The alleged attacker, a 17-year-old Caucasian, was arrested and charged with assault; further police investigations are on. South Australian Premier Mike Rann called the episode a “disgrace”. “It would be madness for anyone to think that racial violence is acceptable in our community,” he added. Rann also assured international students they were welcome in the state’s educational institutions.

Federal education minister Julia Gillard on Friday joined state-level ministers in condemning the “violent incidents and problems that international students have experienced in Australia in recent times.”

“There is no tolerance for violence, no tolerance at all for any of the things we’ve seen happen, particularly in Victoria and New South Wales, in recent days,” she added.  Representatives of the Indian community in Adelaide met on Friday evening to discuss the recent wave of attacks on Indian students. They urged Indian students not to resort to retaliatory action, as happened earlier this week in Sydney.