BedTea.in | Ravi Matah's Blog

India has reacted sharply over news in the Australian media of a racist email scandal involving top Australian police officers. The Australian High Commissioner to India, Peter Verghese, was summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs on Saturday after top Victoria Police were caught circulating offensive mails on an Indian electrocuted on a train.

 A demarche was issued to him on this matter and it was conveyed to him that such an entrenched bias among sections of law enforcers towards the Indian community is a matter of serious concern.  We sincerely hope that apart from taking action against concerned officers, Australian authorities will also take necessary and effective measures to address concerns about safety of all people of Indian origin in Australia.

The officers in Victoria circulated video footage of the electrocution of a man who was travelling on the roof of a crowded train in India and suggested it could be a way to fix Melbourne’s Indian students’ problem, according to a report in the Herald Sun. (more…)

In a fresh incident of racial violence  against Asians in Australia, a Sri Lankan man and his wife were attacked and racially abused by a group of drunken men at their home in Melbourne. A group of 25 drunken thugs bashed up 60-year-old Ranjit Sahasranaman, who is married to Indian-origin Agalya Sahasranamn, outside his own home in Carrams Down suburb on Sunday morning.   
 
Australia’s Opposition leader Tony Abbot had said at Melbourne a week ago that the streets of Melbourne were not safe for Indians. He had re-terated  that the Australian government should spend more on policing with an attempt to prevent racial attacks on Indians and thereby improve relations with India.

His  remarks came in the wake of government’s expensive arrangements in spending to arrange accommodation for a team of Indian journalists touring Australia. (more…)

Despite various denials, Australia on Monday acknowledged that some of the recent violence against the Indian students there  had clearly been racially motivated and vowed to punish the guilty as stipulated in the provisions of law.

Stating that the attacks had considerably damaged the nation’s reputation, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told the Parliament that “if any of these attacks have been racist in nature – and it seems clear that some of them have – they will be punished with the full force of law”.

Smith said the attacks which have included robberies and beatings are “inexcusable” and were being taken very seriously by the government.

In a childish advice, the Victorian Police Simon Overland told International students  not to display their valuable watches, hide their ipods and not to display their valuable jewellery. The Indian government as well as the Indian public has critically reacted to this comical advice. Gautam Gupta, the spokesperson for the Federation of Indian students in Australia has ridiculed this advice and has stated that Indians don’t need to look poor for their own security. I wonder how would Overland like to dress himself if he visits India? (more…)

Melbourne.  Despite various assurances given by the Australian government, the attacks on Indians go on unabated. Two more Indian youth, including a taxi driver, have been attacked which takes the total to seven attacks in a week. A 25 year old youth was attacked and looted in the Macgregor area of South Brisbane while talking on a phone and his purse was snatched.

Students or taxi drivers of Indian origin have found themselves being targeted in both Melbourne and Sydney, sparking allegations of widespread racism in Australian society and a failure by the law enforcement authorities to act.

Australian envoy to India Peter Varghese admits that the continuing attacks on Indian nationals in his country have the “potential to impact on the broader relationship” between the two sides. (more…)