Click to play videoDays after the latest incident of assault on three Indians in Melbourne, India on Wednesday asked Australia to take immediate steps to prevent the recurrence of such attacks and punish the guilty. The acting Australian High Commissioner to India, Lachlan Strahan, spoke exclusively to CNN-IBN about the recent attacks on Indians in Australia.
CNN-IBN: Dr Lachlan, despite all the steps supposedly taken, four Indian men were surrounded by a group outside a bar in Melbourne and were brutally beaten. How do you explain it?
Lachlan Strahan: Well, I think it's very important to clarify the facts of this incident. It's a very unfortunate incident. There's no doubt that several Indians were assaulted. That's very regrettable. The actual incident involved four attackers who were arrested and charged with 'arrested for assault' by the Victorian police, so I think it's very clear that we need to be certain that there wasn't a large mob attacking these people. Some other people were watching the incident but the actual assault involved four people.
CNN-IBN: What seems to be of equal concern is that the Victoria police is not acting as it ought to. It is playing down the incident. At least that's an accusation made today by the leader of the Opposition in Victoria as well. It is at best turning a blind eye, at worst looking the other way as a racist attack of this magnitude happened. How do you explain that?
Lachlan Strahan: I must say that's absolutely not the case. The Victorian police take these incidents extremely seriously and they've been permitted a number of measures to make sure that law enforcement is strong in Victoria. They've taken this particular incident seriously and as I said, they have arrested four individuals for assault and affray. They're continuing their investigations into this particular incident. They have also stepped up their patrols across Victoria's transportation links. Now, in any city you can't have a guarantee that there will be no violent incidents especially in the night. Especially around pubs, some incidents will take place. The absolutely important thing is that if one incident does take place, that there is an appropriate police response and in this case, the police attended the scene, arrested the individuals involved and are continuing the investigations. So I must say I have to reject any allegations that the Victoria police do not take these incidents seriously.
CNN-IBN: You are defending what the Victorian police has done. But we have a quote from the police sergeant there, Sgt Glenn Parker who has even called the attack 'regular'. Now, isn't that insensitive, given the context of the past few months?
Lachlan Strahan: No. I think the important thing is that we have to concentrate on the fact that the police will do their proper work in a professional manner and that is to respond to incidents as they take place. Now, we have implemented through our state government and our federal government, a range of measures to bring down the number of incidents. I think we can say that there has been a downward trend but what I am saying is natural in any large city in the world. You can't have any guarantee that there won't be any street crime in the world, that's impossible. What we can offer is a firm pledge. This is being done by our PM, our deputy PM, the premier of Victoria that if there are any incidents, they will be followed up on rigorously. People will be arrested and they will be charged and they will be brought to trial. If they are found guilty, they will meet the full force of the law.
CNN-IBN: Sir, there are no guarantees of zero crime, we know. But the families of Gurdeep and Sukhdeep and the others attacked for months now are saying the men faced specifically racist abuses- Indians - go home and so on. What image of Australia does this create if not as a racist country?
Lachlan Strahan: The point I'd like to make very strongly is that the Australian government and the Victorian government have made it very clear that violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society. The premier today stressed again that Victoria is in general terms a safe place. Australia has, by international standards, a relatively low level of crime and any instances of violence are intolerant. They will be dealt firmly by the authorities so that is the appropriate thing for us to do. It is to respond to these things with the full force of the law and that is what is being done.
CNN-IBN: But looking at some of the pictures, the ordinary person in India has seen these attacks persist one after the other, despite all the promises made by politicians. The Indian foreign minister got assurances on his trip here. The Victoria premier is coming here next month. Australian leaders have come here to announce measures but nothing seems to have happened on the ground. What would you say to that perception that nothing has really changed on the ground?
Lachlan Strahan: I think there is very clear evidence that this is the first incident we have had in some time. As I said, it is deeply regrettable; it has been condemned in the strongest terms. But I think we have seen an appreciable decline in the number of incidents. But again I must stress that we cannot give a categorical guarantee that no such incidents will ever happen again. As I said, in any city, whether it is here in Delhi or anywhere in the world, we have to accept that a certain element of street crime will continue.
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