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MELBOURNE: A 16-year-old boy from Melbourne on Friday pleaded guilty in a children’s court for his involvement in the stabbing of Indian student Nitin Garg, who died in January.

News of Nitin Garg’s death had shook the nation as this was the first racial related death reported in Australia.

The teenager, whose name has not been revealed, has been charged with committing a robbery by stealing Garg’s mobile phone and making a false statement to police in which he denied that his friend had killed the Indian.

The young boy pleaded guilty in a children’s court on Friday. (more…)

Melbourne:  An Indian student, who was hospitalised with multiple jaw fractures after being brutally beaten up by a group of six youths here, will not be able to eat for up to five weeks and also cannot talk properly, according to one of his friends.

Bharat Thapar, 24, who was assaulted on Monday night in South Oakleigh, is recuperating in a hospital with plates in his jaws and “bruises all over his body”.
     
Quoting Thapar’s friend Sumeet Khanna, ‘The Age’ reported today that the victim was unable to talk properly after a brutal confrontation with six youths that left him with four fractures in his lower jaw.

Khanna had earlier said that two of his friends, including Thapar, had been driving through the Oakleigh area when they saw another Indian man being abused by a group of youths. (more…)

MELBOURNE.  A young Indian student, Bharat Thapar, 24, has suffered “serious” facial injuries after being brutally attacked by a group of  people in Melbourne – the latest in a series of attacks on Indians in Australia.

Thapar was attacked by a group of six men Monday night after he tried to save another Indian from being thrashed in a Melbourne suburb, his friend Sumeet said.

The incident took place near Carinish Road, in Oakleigh South, said Sumeet.

On Monday night, Thapar was trying to save another Indian, a taxi driver named Ratan,  from being beaten up by six people on the streets of Melbourne. When he tried to intervene, the attackers turned on him.  The policemen who arrived at the scene summoned an ambulance, but let the six assaulters leave the location. (more…)

INDIAN TARGETTED IN AUSTRALIA

Melbourne: An explosion triggered by a suspected arson attack ripped apart an Indian restaurant in Sydney, prompting police to investigate the possible links of the incident to a bomb threat.

The restaurant was engulfed by fire, which police suspect was ‘deliberately lit’. Police are investigating if the explosion is related to a bomb threat made to the Copper Tiffin Restaurant on Cleveland Street some time back, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

An unnamed nearby restaurant owner said he had heard a “loud explosion, like bomb” just after 11:30 pm. The explosion threw out debris and caused glass and signs to cover the road.

The Indian restaurant in Sydney was last night engulfed by fire, which police suspect was ‘deliberately lit’ and four people escaped unhurt in the incident.

“Then I see people climbing out of a window, about four, very lucky,” he said. Two people were seen running away from the site just after 11.30 pm as fire engulfed the building, witnesses told police. Shortly thereafter, an explosion was heard and a witness said the front of the shop was missing.

Police and firies reportedly said the blaze was ‘deliberately lit’ and that they were hunting for two men who were seen running away from the scene. The explosion damaged property but four people at a residential property above the restaurant escaped, with only one needing hospital treatment for smoke inhalation.

A spokesman for NSW Fire Brigades said around 20 firies managed to bring the blaze under control just after midnight and it was prevented from spreading to neighbouring properties. The exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, the report said.

The witness said police had been at the same site “about two weeks ago” and cleared out several restaurants along the Cleveland St strip, possibly related to a bomb threat.

Yash Desai, owner of the ‘Copper Tiffin’ Restaurant told the media that, “I have not been allowed to enter the premises as the Police are investigating the cause of the blast. I don’t know what to say, I am at a loss of words, a rift has been created”. He further added that “My request is not to term this as a racial attack as we are not aware”.

Residents of Cleveland Street staying opposite the restaurant said that they heard of a loud explosion, hearing which they came out and saw the restaurant burning.

All is not safe for Indians residing in Australia. The Australian Police claim that assault cases against Indians have come down, but recently an Indian student was attacked by four teenage boys who tried to snatch away his money as he was walking towards his home after finishing his day at the part-time job.

Hervir Singh, a hospitality student was attacked at night in Ringwood Area. He told ABC “Suddenly four or five boys attacked me. They tried to snatch money from me, I ran away from there and told the Police.

The incident came as the Victorian Police commander Trevor Carter said that, though the crime data is yet to be finalised, the incidents against Indian students has gone down.

A fortnight ago, 61 year old Indian was found dead with stab injuries in Australia, the  police said.

The  man who had been living in Doncaster for some time was  found  dead next to a Park land in the Koonung Creek reserve, near Estelle Street, Bulleen, about 10.50 am Sunday, head of homicide, Bernie Edwards, was quoted as saying. The Police are investigating.

And to add fuel to the fire, the justice is also eluding the victims. None of the Australians who thrashed an Indian student leaving him partially blind has got custodial sentences, with the last of the teenagers getting a suspended jail term on Wednesday last.

The teenagers who viciously attacked the Indian in March 2008 outside a Melbourne suburban train station have not even been locked up, the Herald Sun reported.

One of the teenagers, Majang Ngor, was given a suspended jail term and community work over the attack.

The rest of the gang members, aged less than 18 at the time of the incident, were recently sentenced in the Children’s Court and given nine-month supervision.

Ravi Matah.

In yet another attack on Indian students in Australia, a 23-year-old youth, a taxi driver, was stabbed in the chest by unidentified assailants in Melbourne on Wednesday, reports Age. The student, who is also a taxi driver, was attacked and left to bleed on a Brunswick West street, police said.

The name of the victim has not so far been revealed by the press. (more…)

In another attack on an Indian in Australia, a Sikh was punched in his head by a group of Australians who also removed his turban while he was sleeping at a bus stop in Melbourne. Police said the bashing of the 22-year-old Indian youth who was punched in the head, was unprovoked and had his turban removed as he slept at a bus stop.

It was reported by ‘The Age Newspaper that – “The  man was asleep at a stop near Epping railway station in Cooper Street about 12.45 am on Sunday when a bus pulled into the depot and five males, believed to be between 17 and 19 approached him and started bashing him up.” (more…)

Despite the assurances given by the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Judd to the Indian Foreign Affairs Minister S.M.Krishna, during the latters’ visit to Australia in June 09, regarding  safety of Indian students, the attacks on Indian residents there, have gone unabated. A 28 year old student from the Indian community was attacked with a “plank of wood or a baseball bat” by two men which left him with 20 stitches in his head.

The 28-year-old student, whose name was not declared, was attacked by the men after he got down from a bus at Keilor Plains train station on Tuesday. (more…)