Melbourne: Attacks on Indians in Australia continued unabated with yet another taxi driver being punched by his passengers, an assault described as "opportunistic" and "not racially motivated" by police.
In the second such incident in as many days, the
25-year-old taxi driver suffered bruises on his body and
swelling on the face after he was roughed up by his four male
passengers in the Victorian city of Ballarat, 110 kms west of
here just before midnight on Friday, police said.
The Ballart police constables dismissal of the attack
as not racial came even as a top Victorian police official
made a candid admission that there were "racists in
Melbourne".
In the latest assault, police in a statement said,
"The four became abusive towards the Indian driver while he
was driving and started assaulting him with one of the
passengers in the rear seat even spitting on him."
The passengers attempted to force the vehicle to stop
by pulling the hand-break and tried to force the driver’s hand
from the steering wheel, police added.
As the car pulled over, two of the four passengers
tried to flee with the Indian driver giving them a chase.
However, the third passenger punched him to the ground.
Police believe that the group were aged between 16 and
18, but dismissed the attack as "opportunistic".
Police said they had a fair idea who the offenders
were, saying "we believe they are known to us," but denied it
was a racial attack.
It was the second time in as many days that an Indian
cab driver was targeted in the same town. Another 24-year-old
Indian taxi driver Satheesh Thatipamula was abused and
assaulted by a passenger and his vehicle damaged in an assault
on Thursday.
Paul John Brogden, 48-year-old local man was arrested,
jailed for three months and fined 1500 Australian dollars by a
judge, hours after he pleaded guilty of holding out a threat
to kill the driver.
Repeated assaults on the Indians have inflamed
diplomatic tensions between India and Australia.
This was the latest amid a string of attacks on
Indians in Australia, mostly in Melbourne, with 21-year-old
student Nitin Garg, who was stabbed to death by unidentified
assailants here, becoming the first victim of such assaults
this year.
Another Indian youth, Ranjodh Singh, was killed in New
South Wales last month. Nearly 100 cases of attacks on Indians
were reported in Australia in 2009 as against 17 incidents of
assaults in 2008.
A partially-built gurdwara was also damaged in a blaze
on Wednesday, and the police is probing the possibility of
arsonists using Molotov cocktails in the incident.
Meanwhile, in a candid admission in the wake of a
spate of attacks on Indians, a top Victorian police official
today said there were racists in Melbourne and the issue
needed to be discussed to tackle an upswing in street crime
the brunt of which is being borne by Indians.
"Part of that (statement) is being absolutely upfront
about every society having racism and racists," Victorian
Deputy Police Commissioner Ken Jones was quoted as saying by
`The Australian`.
However, he said racism was not endemic in this city.
"We have got murderers and rapists, but for a developed
country, less than our share. We`ve got less than our share of
racists, but we have got them.”
PTI
