Australia hands over attacks dossier to India

It shows nearly half of those arrested between March 2009 and January 5 three days after the Garg killing were under 18, the Age newspaper reported. The dossier shows that among the 18 high-profile cases,two cases of assault reported in May and June last year remained unsolved,the paper said.

Sources said the Australian government initially resisted providing more information to Indians as it deemed racial appearance to be a limited indicator of ethnicity because it was only based on a subjective police assessment. It claimed people described as Indians could originate from countries such as Mauritius and Fiji.

The dossier shows that of the 18 cases,two people were run over by a train and there was no foul play. While three cases remained unsolved,33 people have been arrested over the remaining 13 cases.

The attackers aged under 18 involved in incidents last year included four of five assailants who robbed two Indians at a train station in March and four who attacked Indian student Sourabh Sharma on a train in May. One of two attackers who asked an Indian man for money in Footscray in November and stabbed him 14 times was also under 18.

Smith,who is in Botswana,and the Victoria Police were unavailable for comment.

The revelations come as the police on Tuesday charged five men over a racist bashing of two Indian students in the city on Monday night. The five men,aged between 19 and 20,have been charged with assault-related offences.