Melbourne: An Indian student was attacked by six youths here resulting in serious facial injuries after he got involved in a brawl trying to save a compatriot from being beaten up, the latest in a series of assaults on the community in Australia, reports Mumbai Mirror.
Bharat Thapar, 24, is awaiting surgery in a local hospital following the incident on Monday night which took place in a Melbourne suburb.
Sumit, a friend of the victim, said that Thapar and a friend were driving on Monday night, when they came across six people bashing up an Indian youth, Ratan, near Carnish Road in Oakleigh South.
“Thapar got out of his car and tried to save that boy from them. He didn't even begin speaking to them, he was just crossing the road towards them to find out why he was being threatened, when those six guys may be thinking he (Thapar) knew the boy, tried to ram their car into him and then when he saved himself they started beating him up. They bashed him up for about 15-20 minutes. He can't speak much now, his jaw is shattered,” said Sumeet.
Sumeet said that Thapar appears to have suffered multiple fractures in jaw which doctors intend to operate on in Monash Hospital where he is admitted.
While police arrived on the scene and called an ambulance for the victim, they allowed the attackers to leave, he said.
Thapar moved to Australia three years ago from Panipat in Haryana.
The attack on Thapar is the latest in a slew of assaults against Indians in Australia, mostly in Melbourne.
There have been more than 100 attacks against Indians in this country since June last year.
