- Sunday, March 09, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
A student from India has come under a brutal physical attack in Australia, where he is pursuing higher studies, last week and is currently admitted in a hospital in a critical condition.
Shubham Garg, a 28-year-old doing PhD in the University of South Wales, Sydney, was stabbed as many as 11 times on October 6 in what his family alleged to be a hate crime.
His parents, who live in Agra in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, have been trying to get a visa to travel Down Under to meet their injured son, NDTV reported. They broke down while speaking to the Indian channel as they pleaded for assistance.
His sister Kyavya also tweeted about the incident and tagged the prime minister’s office, the office of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, and Indian external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
My brother Shubham Garg, 28,from UP, was brutually attacked in Sydney, Australia 11 times with knife and he is in critical condition.We seek your immediate help in this matter and emergency visa to family member to look after him.@PMOIndia @myogiadityanath @DrSJaishankar
— Kavya Garg (@KGARG1205) October 12, 2022
In another post, she said his brother was going through multiple surgeries as doctors said the infection was spreading throughout his body and requested help from prime minister Narendra Modi.
Update!! My brother is going through multiple operations and doctor said that infection is spreading in body. Requesting @narendramodi for urgent help on this matter.
— Kavya Garg (@KGARG1205) October 13, 2022
Garg went to Australia in September after graduating from IIT-Madras.
It has been reported that on October 6, the Indian student was approached by a man who wanted the money he had withdrawn from an ATM and threatened him with a knife. When Garg refused, the man reportedly attacked him and stabbed him multiple times before fleeing.
The Indian received injuries to his face, chest, and abdomen, according to reports. He still managed to go to a nearby house for help and was taken to the hospital.
“Shubham somehow survived the attack. We found out on October 8 when he didn’t answer my call and we called his friend,” Ramniwas Garg, his father, told NDTV in an emotionally vulnerable condition.
“He had an 11-hour surgery in his abdomen. I request the government to help with my son’s treatment and a visa for my younger son,” he said.
A 27-year-old man was arrested in connection with the case and charged with attempted murder.
While reports said that the attacker was not known to the Indian, NDTV cited reports saying that there was no evidence that the attack was a racist one.
The family members approached Rajkumar Chahar, a parliamentarian of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party from Uttar Pradesh, who reportedly told them that the Indian mission in Sydney was treating the case “very seriously”.
“The Indian consulate in Sydney has provided consular assistance to the individual. The Australian High Commission is assisting with the facilitation of a visa for a family member,” NDTV quoted a spokesperson of the Australian high commission as saying.
