I know bahout loki eeh poora read nahi karangee... par meri request aa ki poora topic read karoo.. as ek hor punjabi became victim of Racism...

Notwithstanding assurances by the Australian government that it would not tolerate racial violence, another Indian student was beaten up by a group of youths on Friday, the 10th person from the community to be assaulted within a space of a month.

20-year-old Amrit Pal Singh from Haryana, who is pursuing a course in community welfare from the Caps Institute of Management here, was assaulted near a McDonald's outlet when he was walking to the place where he worked on the part-time basis.

"One of the guys came to me and took off my mobile. When I asked him to please give me my mobile back, he gave me a punch on my face. I also gave a punch to him. Following which, his four friends came and started beating me," Singh said, adding "I have told the police about the incident."

"One of the attackers took out a knife to hit me but I escaped as it hit my bag," he said.

Singh was the 10th Indian student to be attacked within a month. One of the victims, Shravan Kumar, a student from Andhra Pradesh, remained critical after being stabbed with a screwdriver by a group of teenagers in a racial attack that also left his three Indian friends injured here last month.

The latest attack came despite the Australian government, including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, pledging to take all steps to prevent such incidents.

In a statement, the Consulate General of India in Melbourne said that it would like to express its gratitude to, and appreciation of, the Indian community in Victoria, which reacted with concern and with positive action "to ameliorate the tense situation in the last two weeks."

It said it sincerely hoped that these efforts to help the Indian students would continue in a coordinated manner.

"The Consulate once again assures all members of the Indian community that we will work with any association, organisation or individual who approaches us with a constructive suggestion or with information that can help us formulate positive action steps to address any and all concerns that the Indian community and its members may have," it said.

Meanwhile, the Premier of the state of New South Wales, Nathan Rees, met members of the Indian community to assure them that they would not be subject to any violence as witnessed in Victoria, mostly in its capital Melbourne.

The authorities in the state, which hosts 20,000 Indian students, claimed that they had no intelligence report to suggest that Indian students were being racially attacked because they were perceived as "soft targets."

Separately, Australian media professionals of Indian origin expressed their disappointment over the Indian media reports "sensationalising and racialising" the incidents.

These professionals, in a statement, expressed full confidence in the Australian government in tackling the issue.