Melbourne, June 14: An Indian student from Gujarat has become the latest victim of racial violence here, as the Australian envoy in New Delhi admitted that the spate of attacks on the community has “damaged” bilateral ties.
24-year-old Hardik Bipinbhai Patel from Gujarat was attacked by a group of men here, the latest in a spate of racial assaults targeting the community members in Australia.
Patel, who hails from Surat, was attacked by three people while he was about to enter his car here on Friday night.
The student, who is pursuing a course in commercial cookery at the Melbourne University, said two people came in front of him and punched him on his face.
“Then someone from my back side hit on my head and I fell unconscious. When I woke up I was found far away from the area and an elderly man helped me to reach hospital,” Patel, who suffered face injuries in the assault, said.
He said the attackers also looted his mobile, wallet and car keys and that they looked like drug addicts.
Patel, who was admitted to a hospital on Friday, was discharged on Saturday and is doing well.
Meanwhile, John McCarthy, the Australian High Commissioner in New Delhi, has admitted that the spate of attacks on Indians in his country has “damaged” bilateral ties and fears that the upcoming free trade talks may remain ‘quarantined’ among other things as a fallout.
The attack comes after Indian students in Melbourne and Sydney have held series of rallies over violent attacks and repeated calls for an inquiry into racial attacks against them.
Blaming the Indian media, particularly the ‘voracious’ 24-hour cable news channels for the ‘negative coverage’ of the attacks, the Australian envoy said that the relationship between the two nations will take time to recover.
McCarthy, who was quoted by ‘The Weekend Australian’ here said that due to such coverage by India’s TV channels fear and outrage was being created among Indians in both countries.
“While our bilateral relationship with India — including talks over a free-trade agreement — would probably remain quarantined from the fallout, the new, negative perception of Australia would linger,” he said.
“It’s done damage,” McCarthy said adding “You can’t have three weeks of that sort of television without the perception of Australia among Indians being damaged. The question is how much?
“My sense is we will overcome it, but it’s going to take time and it’s going to need a pretty close look at how we prepare students for Australia. We need to be much more conscious of their safety,” he said.
Australia had almost 95,000 Indian students in its various educational institutions. At least dozens of racial attacks have taken place against Indian students in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide in less than a month.
-Agencies