Melbourne/New Delhi, Oct 2 (IANS) A 28-year-old Indian student was attacked in the north-west of Melbourne, adding one more to the series of recent attacks on Indians in Australia over the past few months, a report said Friday.
The student after getting off a bus at Keilor Plains train station at 12.15 a.m. Tuesday was approached by two men. They asked him for a cigarette and he gave one to both of them.
As the Indian student turned to walk away, he was hit over the head at least six times with what he believes was a plank of wood or a baseball bat, The Age newspaper reported.
He was knocked unconscious and the offenders made off with his backpack.
A constable with Footscary police, Kevin Squires, described the attack as callous and unprovoked.
"They seemed to be hanging around the station just looking for someone," he said. "They just kept whacking him at the back of the head."
In the last four months, there have been approximately two dozen attacks against both Indian students and members of the community largely confined to Melbourne and Sydney.
A week earlier an Indian taxi driver was assaulted by an Australian star footballer in Melbourne.
Essendon footballer Michael Hurley, 19, was briefly held for kicking and punching the unidentified Indian cabbie outside a fastfood centre after an altercation over fare on Hoddle Street.
That incident happened when Victoria's state premier John Brumby was visiting New Delhi to give safety assurances and promised a progress report on probes into such attacks and proposed safe housing and transportation for Indian students.
The wave of violence against Indian students in recent months has galvanised Australian authorities to ensure corrective steps were under way to ensure zero tolerance to such incidents.
India's new high commissioner Peter Varghese admitted soon after taking over last week that "our brand and the Australian brand in India," had taken a beating following the spate of attacks.
In addition to Brumby, there have been similar high-profile trips in the last two months by Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Immigration and Citizenship Minister Chris Evans, Treasurer Wayne Swan and education group manager Colin Walters.