Australian city noted more crime against Indians

Police noticed a high crime rate against Indians in Australia's second largest city even before a public furor erupted over the issue and created tensions between Australia and India, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Indian students studying in the city of Melbourne have called for more police action after a series of violent crimes against their fellows led elements of the Indian media to brand Australians racist.

Chief Commissioner Simon Overland, chief of the Victoria state police, said police were aware that criminals were targeting victims with Indian backgrounds for robberies "a long time before it hit the public." But he said that although Indians were overrepresented among robbery victims, they were no more likely than others in Victoria to be assaulted.

"There is no question, regardless of the motives, Indian students have to a degree been targeted in robberies and that is not OK," Overland told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

"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," he added.

"Regardless of who they are, what they are, what color they are, what occupation they are, my job is to make the state as safe as I can for everyone," he added.

India has asked Australia to take immediate steps to curb violence against its citizens there, warning that recent attacks could affect relations between the two countries.

The violence has caused an uproar in India, which has millions of citizens working and studying abroad.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith phoned his Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna to offer Australia's condolences early this month after Nitin Garg, a 21-year-old Indian-born, Australian resident was fatally stabbed in Melbourne.

Krishna warned in a statement that such attacks threatened to "cast a shadow on our otherwise excellent bilateral relations."

Attacks against Indians now attract national media attention in Australia. An Indian taxi driver was beaten, but not seriously injured, in Melbourne at the weekend.