As we all know, Nitin Garg, 21 yrs old young man from India was fatally stabbed in Melbourne a few days ago. He was on his way to do night shift at a Hungry Jacks and was walking through a park where he was stabbed. He staggered to his work place, calling for help. He was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital but could not be saved. Apparently, the knife had caused fatal injury to his vascular system/heart. Apparently, his wallet and other belongings were not touched. So, what happened here and why was he stabbed this ferociously, are the questions which are bothering all of us.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/please-help-me-im-dying-pleaded-knife-victim-20100104-lq5p.html

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/online-fury-over-stabbing-death-of-indian-man-20100103-lnb9.html

http://www.smh.com.au/national/fatal-decision-to-take-short-cut-through-park-20100104-lq7p.html

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/student-assaults-teach-some-harsh-lessons-about-racism-20100104-lq1i.html

http://tinyurl.com/yzqsll7

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/feelgood-sops-from-politicians-are-no-help-in-healing-a-mothers-heartbreak-20100106-lu82.html

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/indian-tvs-unsound-fury-20100106-lu8y.html

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/having-streets-filled-with-fear-is-a-frightening-way-to-live-20100106-lu8x.html

This is shocking to us. I am sure, this would be a shocking news to all decent Australians. It did not need to happen. He did not deserve to be killed in cold blood. Why did it happen and who did it, are the questions we all have right now.

His father had passed away about 6 months ago due to Liver cancer and his elder brother, a sister and his mother are naturally devastated. Their loss, agony and distress can’t be described. We have felt this loss of life in our own hearts. I was very sad, angry and had tears when I heard about it. I have a son who is older than him. It could have been any one’s son/brother.

Vic police is doing its investigation and have appealed to people to not jump to any presumption about the motive of the killers. Appeals have been made by the acting Premier of Victoria and acting prime minister of Australia, Ms Julia Gillard, to let Vic police do its job.  It is important that Vic police does a proper investigation, catch the criminals and prosecute them. These criminals need to face the full force of criminal justice system. Every one including Tony Abbott, Fed leader of opposition and Ms Julia Gillard, acting PM have condemned this murder.

Indian media, Indian Gov officials and Indian people in India have expressed their views and reactions about Nitin’s cold-blooded murder. There are all sorts of emotions which have come out. Blogs, online comments, TV coverage and print media have given due importance to this murder. They have mentioned this murder in the context of a long series of assaults of Indian students in Australia.

Some people have called Nitin’s murder as a racism based murder. This is a comment which I have heard from many people and have seen this mentioned in Indian media.

Since full facts are not available about who did it and why they did it, we really should not jump to any premature conclusions. Nitin was alone when he was stabbed. All facts will come out once the police investigation progresses. We must remember that Vic police did a good job in investigating the assault of Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, Ex AMA president and culprits were given very lengthy sentences. This is what should happen here too.

May I urge people to stay away from premature conclusions. Let us all wait for the police investigation to be completed. Please do remember that Australia is a multi-cultural society and a vast majority of people here are tolerant of one another. We do not believe that Australia, as a whole, is a racist society. We, of course, have a small number of people who do have the racist views and such people do come from all colours. Racist people are everywhere and no country is an exception.

May I urge people to treat this killing as a crime matter and not see it from a race angle. It is a fact that Australia, like other countries, does have a crime problem and victims/culprits come from all communities/races. I have a patient who is Anglo-Saxon and he is 6 feet 6 inches tall. He was bashed severely a few months ago in Seven Hills in Sydney. He had to be in the ICU of Blacktown Hospital for several days. His bashers were also white. My point is that criminals have no race or religion of their own. Frail and old people of all races get assaulted by these low lives.

Melbourne seems to be lot more in news than Sydney when we see the issues of assaults of students. Why is this the case is difficult to understand. I do wonder though whether policing in Victoria has some issues. I do wonder whether they should consult with NSW Police about the situation in NSW. We know that NSW police has anti-organised crime squads which is not the case in Victoria. Should this strategy be followed by Vic police is the question for Vic Gov and Vic police to consider. 

 Do we need to  have a public education campaign on “Australia says no to racism” on the line of the one against domestic violence, an effective crime control by effective knife/weapon control and an effective sentencing as the strategies, are something which must be considered too.

I would like to emphasize again that I do not believe that Indians are specifically targeted. I also believe that we have a crime problem in our cities and people from all races are the victims.

I am praying for the soul of Late Nitin and I am praying for his family members in India. Our hearts should go out to them. We would not even be able to imagine how much distress they are going through.

Yadu Singh/Sydney/5th Jan, 2010

singhyadu@gmail.com

www.twitter.com/dryadusingh