Victoria's top cop on Wednesday said crime against Indians was a problem which was noticed by police two years ago.
Victoria's top cop on Wednesday said crime against Indians was a problem which was noticed by police two years ago.
Indians are over-represented in robbery statistics and there is a racist element to some attacks, Chief Commissioner Simon Overland said, according to media reports here.
"There is no question, regardless of the motives, Indian students have to a degree been targeted in robberies and that is not okay," he said. "We recognised this problem a long time before it hit the public. We have known for two years that there has been this issue and we have been working away, at a number of levels around engaging with students, trying to make them understand the risks and how they keep themselves safe."
Overland said police had detailed data on attacks involving Indians and said that while Indians were over represented when it came to robberies, the same could not be said for assaults. About 50 per cent of assaults on Indians occurred in their workplace, mostly involving taxi drivers and convenience store clerks, he said. Overland said some of the attacks were racist.
"I have said from day one undoubtedly some of these attacks have a racist motive or there is racist elements to these attacks," he said adding regardless of who they are, what they are, what colour they are, what occupation they are, my job is to make the state as safe as I can for everyone.
Another Indian driver assaulted
In yet another incident, a 25-year-old Indian cabbie was assaulted here by his two passengers.
Police have asked witnesses to come forward to help them catch a couple who bashed the driver in Melbourne. They have also released images of a couple involved in the attack in the city's north on Saturday. However, there is no evidence that the attack was racially motivated, police said.
The Indian driver told police he called an ambulance and was treated for facial injuries at the Northern Hospital after the late night assault.
He had stopped at the Summerhill Hotel in Reservoir on Saturday around 1:25 am (AEDT) where five people were asking for a ride. He refused to carry them all, because of the car's legal capacity and instead only picked up a man and a woman from the group.
Police said the woman became angry at the driver for refusing to take her friends with them. The man then punched the driver as he pulled over on Plenty Road and continued to assault him as the couple climbed out of the cab.
The pair caught a tram and got off at a stop across the street from the Rose Shamrock Hotel, continuing on foot down a side street. In the cab driver security camera footage, the man is shown wearing a white T-shirt with a graphic design on the front. The woman has her hair pulled back and is drinking a beverage from an aluminium can.
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