Knife attack on Indian student

By Melissa Meehan
DANDENONG’S Chisholm TAFE was the scene of a knife attack on an Indian student on Tuesday.
Police are appealing for witnesses to an attempted armed robbery which resulted in a 21-year-old man receiving a minor stab wound as he was walking through the car park towards Stud Road at 1.30pm.
Senior Constable Karla Dennis reported that the student was approached by five men who asked him for a cigarette and money. When he did not hand over any possessions he was set upon by the group.
“One of the attackers produced a box cutter or similar and slashed the man across the chest causing a minor laceration,” she said.
The student was able to flee and contact police.
The attack came just hours after the State Government revealed plans to change the way hate crimes were dealt with in Victoria.
Endeavour Hills Indian Sub-continent Cultural and Comm-unity Welfare Association Incorp-orated, spokesperson Saleh Parkar said a lot of things needed to be done to protect Indian students.
The association met last night. On Wednesday he said they were expected to discuss ways they could support local students.
“We will be looking at how we can approach the government and local police,” Mr Parkar said.
“We need to look at what we can do.”
The issue of Indian students being targeted in Melbourne has been of great concern recently, with more than 2000 students protesting in the CBD on Sunday.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland said that violence against the students was “unacceptable, whether racial or otherwise”.
“It is not new news, we have been working on this issue for the past 18 months,” he said.
“We have a lot more to do.”
He said the best thing for students to do was to sit down with police and work together to get on top of the issue.
Chisholm TAFE was unavailable for comment.
Any witnesses are asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.