NEW DELHI:Four Indians were brutally kicked and beaten by a group of (70) Australians in the eastern Melbourne suburb of Epping.
The incident was widely reported in the Indian media. It comes as Canberra tries to pacify New Delhi following a wave of similar violence in Australia in recent months, which Indians have labelled as racist in nature.
India has asked Australia to take immediate steps to prevent the recurrence of such attacks and to punish the guilty.
"We are concerned at the recurring attacks on Indians in Australia," said India's External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash.
Victoria state Premier John Brumby, who is preparing to go on a mission to India to help repair Australia's reputation, said any violence was unacceptable and admitted that the recent incidents have damaged Australia's image in India.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is also due to visit India in November.
According to Australian police, the Indian men were playing pool in the bar when a woman allegedly directed a racist remark at them. When they left the bar, four men attacked them in the carpark.
But two of the victims said they were attacked by a much larger group.
"My brother was attacked first. When I tried to help him, 10 to 15 people turned on me. They banged my head and I lost my consciousness. They said, 'Go back to India,"' Sukhdip Singh, who sustained a broken jaw, told Indian TV channel Times Now.
His uncle, Mukhtiar Singh, was also attacked. Mukhtiar Singh said his other nephew Gurdeep suffered a broken shoulder.
The condition of the fourth victim is not known.
Australian police also denied trying to cover up the assault, after reporters questioned why it had taken four days to release details of the incident.
Acting senior sergeant Glenn Parker said the police's media department knew about the assault early on Sunday but did not issue a statement until yesterday.
'There has been no deliberate attempt to suppress it,' he told reporters, without offering an explanation for the delay.
Police said they arrested and interviewed four men, but later released them pending further investigations.
There have been a string of attacks on Indian students in Australia since May, with a number of victims grievously hurt and hospitalised.
External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna visited Australia last month to convey New Delhi's concerns about such attacks.
He was assured by Foreign Minister Stephen Smith that the Australian government would take all steps to ensure that the country remained an attractive destination for foreign students.
There are more than 90,000 Indian students studying in Australia. They form the second largest overseas student population after the Chinese.
At a time when the global recession is biting hard, Australia is only too aware of the implications for its lucrative A$15.5 billion (S$19 billion) education sector if an impression is created that the country is 'racist'.
Any drop in student enrolments from overseas will hit the economy hard as international education is the country's third largest foreign exchange earner after coal and iron ore.
