Another Indian student attacked in Oz; govt sets up Task Force

MELBOURNE: A ninth Indian student has been attacked in the space of one month even as the Australian Government announced a Task Force headed by the National Security Adviser to deal with such violence in an attempt to contain the fallout from the series of attacks.

The state of Victoria at the centre of a furor over the attacks on Indian students meanwhile said it would introduce hate laws so that judges can take account of prejudice against a particular group of people when sentencing for a crime. The changes would apply to hate crimes prompted by religion, sexual orientation and gender, as well as race.

Nardeep Singh (21), a nursing student at the Chisholm Institute in Dandenong in Melbourne's east, was slashed with box-cutter knife carried by one of the five men who confronted him in a car park, a spokeswoman for Victoria Police said.

The attack took place at 1.30 pm (local time) as Singh was leaving the college, she said and added that he was confronted by five men and asked for cigarettes.

Singh told the men he was a non-smoker and they demanded money and when he refused, he was slashed across the chest, The Age reported quoting police officials.

Police said after the attack, Singh made his way to a police station where he made a statement about the attack.

Singh is the ninth Indian student to be targeted in a month and attack on him came on a day when Foreign Minister Stephen Smith announced that the government has set up a Task Force headed by National Security Adviser Duncan Lewis to deal with violence against Indian students in the country.

Smith told Parliament that the government was doing everything it can to ensure the perpetrators of the attacks are "found and prosecuted."