The Daily Indian

In a fresh incident of violence against Asians in Australia, a Sri Lankan man and his Indian wife were attacked and racially abused by a group of drunken men at their home here.

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.

Sahasranaman, a Sri Lankan national, revealed his over two-and-a-half hour ordeal of how he fought back with the thugs till police arrived and dispersed them, the Herald Sun reported today.

Sahasranaman, who has lived in Australia for 19 years with his wife and two kids, said he was assaulted and racially abused by the gang of mostly white men who damaged his back fence and gained entry to his yard.

He said he was forced to fight back with a bar when the intruders got within centimetres of his back door.

Interestingly, this time the police dropped home one of the injured offender who allegedly got hurt by Sahasranaman.

“They were throwing punches at me,” Sahasranaman said, adding “they were calling names and told me to get lost from this country.”

The attack came at a time when Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith is in India to discuss with authorities there the security preparation for the Commonwealth Games and the issue of attacks on Indians here.

Thousands of Australians, including Victorian Premier John Brumby, today treated themselves to Indian cuisine like ‘naan’ and ‘tandoori chicken’ as they joined a mass dining event to protest attacks against Indians.

Brumby joined a few leading Indian community members like Primus Telecom chief Ravi Bhatia for lunch at an Indian restaurant ‘Desi Dhaba’ in the up-market Flinders street.

The mass dining is part of ‘Vindaloo Against Violence’ campaign launched as a reaction to a spate of attacks against Indians across the city and resulting negative coverage around the world. Brumby said the response from Victorians to the initiative demonstrated the community’s commitment to unite in solidarity with the Indians and celebrate multiculturalism.

“Vindaloo against Violence initiative is a unique opportunity for Victorian to unite and send a message that the actions of an ignorant few will not be allowed to undermine the reputation of Melbourne as a peaceful and friendly city,” he said.

Australians, who joined the mass dining, treated themselves to authentic Indian cuisine like ‘naan’, ‘tandoori chicken’ and ‘chicken tikka’.

An official statement said the state parliament dinning hall.

Concerned over a series of attacks on its nationals, India today sought “credible answers” from Australia so that it could send a clear message to worried parents of more than 120,000 Indian students here.

“It is important to understand that there is anger and frustration in India over what is happening (in Australia),” Indian High Commissioner Sujatha Singh said in an article published in the Age newspaper here.

She said that the anxious parents of over 120,000 Indian students in Australia are asking for clear answers to certain questions: “Are our children safe in Australia? Why does it seem that only, or mainly, Indians are the victims? Are the assailants being caught? Are they being punished? Is the situation becoming better or worse?”

“I cannot overstate the importance of keeping the human element in the forefront in providing credible answers to these questions and sending a clear message to parents far away in India, worrying about their children in Australia,” she wrote ahead of her visit to India to brief the government over the steps taken by Australia to address its concerns.

Over 100 cases of attacks on Indians have been reported since the last year in Australia, mostly in Victoria, and the issue has been taken up by top representatives of the Indian government with their Australian counterparts.

Australia today tightened its immigration rules rejecting over 20,000 migrant applicants from foreign students, including Indians, seeking permanent residency through hairdressing, cookery and other courses.

The fresh system has set a new list of occupations in demand and has favoured skilled workers including nurses, general medical practitioners, mechanical engineers and teachers instead of groups such as cooks and hairdressers.

The tough immigration rules are aimed at curbing the activities of unscrupulous agents who promise students taking up courses here with automatic entitlement to permanent residency. “It does not and it will not,” Immigration Minister Chris Evans said on such claims.

“The current points test puts an overseas student with a short-term vocational qualification gained in Australia ahead of a Harvard-educated environmental scientist,” Evans said in a statement.

Evans said the reforms, which follow a sudden rise in Australia’s Indian population and a spate of attacks on students from the country, would give priority to migrants with higher skills.

Indian High Commissioner to Australia has reportedly met Australian Governor-General, warning of long term consequences unless more action was taken to prevent attacks against the Indians and pointed that the Victoria was in “a state of denial”.

The new development came after Victorian premier John Brumby on Wednesday lashed out at the Indian media and some government officials for “unbalanced views on the ongoing attacks”.
According to The Age report, top Indian envoy Sujatha Singh had sought a meeting with Bryce in Sydney last Friday.

She is believed to have told the Governor-General Quentin Bryce that Australia is not racist but warned of long term effect unless more action was taken to prevent attacks.

The report said while she applauded the role of police in NSW, Queensland and South Australia for handling racist attacks, Victoria was taking too long to respond and was in a state of “denial” over the severity of the attacks. According to The Age report, top Indian envoy Sujatha Singh had sought a meeting with Bryce in Sydney last Friday.

She has believed to have told the Governor-General Quentin Bryce that Australia is not racist but warned of long term effect unless more action was taken to prevent attacks. The report said while she applauded the role of police in NSW, Queensland and South Australia for handling racist attacks, Victoria was taking too long to respond and was in a state of “denial” over the severity of the attacks.

Citing more than 100 incidents of racist violence against Indians, she told Bryce Victorian authorities were in denial over the scale of the attacks. The report said even as Victorian police have repeatedly said they do not record the ethnicity of assault victims, a spokesman yesterday was unable to confirm Singh’s claimed number of incidents.

The 29-year-old Jaspreet Singh of Grice Crescent, Essendon, was charged yesterday with making a false report and criminal damage with a view to gaining financial advantage over the car fire.

Police told a bail justice that Singh was in financial difficulty and stood to gain AUSD 11,000 in insurance from the incident.

He was bailed to appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court on March 15.

Sharply reacting on the latest development, Victorian Premier yesterday commented, “I hope that there is some balance to the debate, some balance to the reporting in India, and certainly to date that balance hasn’t been there”.

In fresh incidents of , four community youths, including three cabbies, were attacked in two separate incidents in Brisbane, a media report said today.

“Four more attacks on Indians in Brisbane, Queensland, took place,” Sky news reported without giving out any more information about the victims.

“Three of them have been directed at cab drivers, one who told how he was punched and dragged from his taxi,” it said.

Indian cabbies are believed to be accounting for over 70 per cent of the cab driving jobs thus are said to be more prone to such attacks. The latest attacks against Indians were 10th in this month.

In a separate incident, a 23-year-old pizza delivery youth was bashed up with a cricket bat and robbed while making a delivery in Brisbane.

Meanwhile, Brisbane-based Indian consul S D Singh told PTI that police yesterday informed him about the attacks and also arrested one person involved in one of the incident. He said he had no further details of the incidents.

“Indian High Commissioner Sujatha Singh will reach Brisbane today and will meet community leaders and members of the Queensland police to discuss the recent spate of attacks,” Singh said. The meeting is expected to be held tomorrow.

Over 100 incidents of attacks on Indians, particularly students, were reported in 2009 and the attacks have continued this year unabated.

The Australian government has given a dossier on these incidents to India which reveals that nearly half of the attackers have been juveniles.

Under pressure from India, Australia has also set up a high-level ministerial working group to comprehensively study the spate of attacks on Indians in that country.

The first meeting of the high-level group will take place by the end of this week.