Where were you last Friday night?

The death of Nitin Garg last weekend was a deplorable act and we can only hope that the police find those responsible as soon as possible. It is a simple statement that could apply to anyone’s murder. Unfortunately in large cities such as ours these crimes do occur.

It is however, a little embarrassing watching the Indian media and government suddenly become so sanctimonious. The Indian government issued travel warnings to Melbourne and the media is demanding answers for this ‘racist’ attack. Maybe, the media are right, maybe this is the worst kind of racist attack that killed Nitin but isn’t it better to wait until motives have been established? Nitin’s wallet was found in the park so robbery was ruled out and apparently that only leaves ‘racist attack’ as the motive. They could well be right, no one including the police are willing to discount it, but it could just as easily have been an underpanted member of the Carlton Football Club, drunk, angry and disorientated after a week wondering the streets, unable to locate Crown. We don’t know, and can even come across as a little stupid when we try to guess.

Perhaps the Indian government could consider a similar warning for all of us in Melbourne (not just the Indian community) after the actions of Puneet Puneet in 2008. ‘It is advised to be aware of Indian drivers affected by drugs and alcohol on the roads in Melbourne.’ It only happened once a couple of years ago but at this stage the death toll is the same.