Brumby accuses Indian media of double standards

A supposed racist attack on an Indian man has been exposed as an insurance job

PREMIER John Brumby has criticised the Indian media and government over the portrayal of violence against Indian students in Australia after a supposed racial attack -- the second to make the headlines -- was exposed as an alleged botched insurance job.

Arson detectives say Jaspreet Singh was not attacked by a group of men and set alight north of Melbourne last month as he claimed but accidently set himself on fire after trying to torch his car for the insurance money.

Mr Singh, 29, who denies the claim, was granted bail yesterday at an out-of-sessions court hearing after being charged with making a false report to police and criminal damage with a view to financial advantage.

The charges come just a week after three Indians were charged with murdering fellow Indian Ranjodh Singh in Griffith, NSW.

The reporting of the two cases in India added to the hysteria over violence against Indians in Australia after the stabbing murder of 21-year-old Indian student Nitin Garg in Melbourne's western suburbs. A newspaper cartoon portrayed the Victorian Police as the Ku Klux Klan.

Mr Brumby said yesterday the reporting by the Indian media was unbalanced.

"I think I'll make a couple of comments and in a sense they go, as much as anything, to the way the Indian media and, to a lesser extent, some representatives in the Indian government portray these events," he said.

"The point needs to be made that the people who have been charged with that murder (of Ranjodh Singh) are both Indians. And we've had this (Jaspreet Singh) case, which attracted a lot of attention in India, where police have charged an individual with setting fire to himself . . . so I hope that there is some balance to the . . . reporting in India."

India's deputy high commissioner in Canberra, V.K. Sharma, declined to comment.

Federation of Indian Students of Australia chairman Gautam Gupta said the case did not lessen concerns that Indians were over-represented in Melbourne as victims of crime.

The court hearing for Mr Singh heard that police had had obtained security footage allegedly showing the 29-year-old buying a 15-litre plastic container and petrol on the day before the incident.

Victorian senior constable Danielle O'Keefe told the hearing that Mr Singh -- who denies the allegations -- suffered the burns while trying to torch his 2003 Ford Futura: "Police inquiries have led us to believe that Mr Singh is in some financial difficulty and that he intended to sell his car but instead stood to gain $11,000 from an insurance claim out of this particular incident."

Friends of the courier company owner expressed shock over Mr Singh being charged. " I still don't believe he would do something like that," said workmate Pigush Gandhi.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: AAP