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Sikh student
assaulted in Australia
Attackers tried to remove his turban, cut his hair
WSN Network
 MELBOURNE: In
yet another blatant racial attack on many Punjab-origin and other
Indian students in
Australia,
a 22- year-old Sikh youth was assaulted by a group of six teenagers,
who tried to remove his turban and cut his hair.
Resham Singh, who is studying in a hospitality course he joined six
months ago, became the 20th Indian victim of a racial
attack within a month. He was attacked at Dandenong Station here.
Singh, who is not a fluent English speaker, said the group first
abused him and then left, but returned later with more people and a
pair of scissors. "They tried to remove my turban and cut my hair."
While his
friends tried to save him, Singh said he later realized that the
education agent back in
India
had never warned him that he might even have to undergo this kind of
a treatment abroad.
The attackers
were later arrested by the Victoria police who confirmed the arrest
of the two persons but withheld the identity of the victim. The
youths from Dandenong aged 13 and 15 years were charged with
intentionally causing serious injury, recklessly causing serious
injury and assault in company, the police spokesperson said.
Even as
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has declared a "zero tolerance"
policy against racial attacks on students including Indians, the
attacks continue unabated. The Victorian police also announced an
initiative to mount stronger patrolling around train stations to
curb any such crime.
Singh said he
had taken the job of trolley pushing through a friend as he was not
getting hired elsewhere because of his beard and turban.
But the allure
of living in a foreign country, despite widespread racial and
religious discrimination doesn't seemed to have dimmed for Singh,
who said that even though the episode has shaken him he will
continue with his studies and eventually aim for permanent
residency.
1
July 2009
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