Aus PM assured action against racial attackers: Manmohan

Melbourne: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday while replying to President Pratibha Patil's address in Parliament, said that he is involved with his Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd on the issue of Indian students' safety.

Meanwhile, Indian students who have reportedly formed groups to patrol troubled areas in Australia to prevent racial attacks on the community members, have been asked by the police to stop the practice and let them do their jobs.

The Indians have reportedly formed groups to protect students from racial attacks at St Albans and Thomastown railway stations of the Melbourne's west after a spate of assaults on the community members in the area, The Age newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Indians conducting their own security patrols should "leave and let police do their jobs", a Victoria Police spokeswoman was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

She said police had already boosted patrols on the troubled train line, the railway stations and at a St Albans shopping centre to prevent such violence. "We have been talking to them about their concerns and because of that have increased patrols in the area," she said.

The students have complied to police request to move but then returned the following night or gone to other locations, the spokeswoman said.

First act of retaliation

Earlier, it was reported on Monday that a 20-year-old man was stabbed in a western suburb of Melbourne after he had allegedly racially abused a group of Indian students here in possibly the first act of retaliation.

The spokeswoman refused to confirm whether two men who stabbed the youth in St Albans were Indians.

No one has yet been charged over the incident. The victim allegedly said: "You are black. You don't belong here. Go away from our country".

The attack on the victim was the first time Indian students appeared to have retaliated against violent attacks against them as they walk back home late at night, the daily said.

It was also reported that a car believed to be of one of the persons involved in attacks on Indians was torched at a factory near the station in western suburb.