Melbourne: Indian students' apex body in Melbourne has questioned the claim of Australian authorities that the spate of attacks on the community members were not racial but "opportunistic and cases of simple robbery".
Reacting to the statements by the visiting Australian delegation to India, the Federation of Indian Student Association said that the authorities have failed to probe and tackle the presence of miscreants who've adopted terms like "curry bashing" as an activity they would like to engage in.
"How can they say that none of these attacks were racist when we hear criminals using terms like curry bashing? How can the Assistant Commissioner of Victoria Police oppose the Victorian Police Commissioner Simon Overland and Victorian Premier John Brumby, when both of them have expressly accepted that some of these attacks were racist in nature?" FISA spokesperson Gautam Gupta said.
"How can they say that these are petty crimes when victims of these crimes are in hospitals struggling for life? The Australian authorities must define what they mean by 'petty'," Gupta said.
"We are not surprised that these delegates are trying to put their spin on the facts as it is nothing more than an expensive marketing junket to preserve their multi-billion dollar industry. Unfortunately it is coming at the cost of students' lives and careers," he said.