Melbourne: A 15-year-old Australian boy was charged on Thursday with the stabbing murder of Indian student Nitin Garg, which followed a string of attacks on Indians and threatened to derail ties with New Delhi.
The teenager, who cannot be named, appeared before the Children's Court after his arrest in a Melbourne suburb earlier Thursday. His mother wept through the brief court hearing.
Garg, 21, was killed as he walked through parkland en route to work at a burger restaurant on January 2. He managed to stagger to the restaurant before collapsing and dying.
The murder was strongly condemned by both Australia and India, whose Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna called it a "heinous crime on humanity" and "an uncivilised brutal attack on innocent Indians".
It came after a wave of attacks on Indian nationals who have arrived in the country attracted by its burgeoning overseas education sector and the prospect of gaining a permanent visa.
The muggings and beatings, accompanied by migration scams and colleges charging for substandard courses, prompted street protests by Indians in Melbourne and Sydney last year.
Officials predict Indian student arrivals will drop by a fifth this year after the attacks, hitting an industry which grew to 17.2 billion dollars (15.4 billion US) in 2008-2009, one of Australia's biggest earners of foreign money.
The attacks were greeted with outrage by India's media, with one newspaper cartoon comparing Australian police to the racist Ku Klux Klan for its handling of the Garg case.
However, Detective Inspector Bernie Edwards said on Thursday police did not believe racism was the motive.
"In our inquiries at this stage, we don't believe it was racially motivated," Edwards told journalists.
