India's top diplomat in Australia on Friday rejected claims from police that racism was not a factor in a wave of savage attacks on students from the subcontinent.

High Commissioner (ambassador) to Australia Sujatha Singh said after a meeting with police that there would be increased patrols around trouble spots in Melbourne in a bid to curb the attacks, which have caused outrage in India.
The move comes after unprecedented pressure from New Delhi, with External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna demanding that Australian authorities protect Indian students in the country's second largest city.

The attacks have been occurring for more than a year but came into focus last weekend when student Sravan Kumar Theerthala was left fighting for his life after being stabbed with a screwdriver at a party.

Police have repeatedly denied that race was a factor in the attacks, arguing that Indian students were often simply in the wrong time at the wrong place as they travelled home late at night with items such as mobile phones and
iPods.

But Singh rejected the assertion after her meeting with senior officers, saying the number of Indian students being targeted indicated race played a part.

"There is a racist element to some of the attacks but many of the attacks are opportunistic," she said.

Singh also indicated she would be keeping a close watch on the police response to the issue, urging students who were dissatisfied with the way investigations were going to contact her so she could take up their cause.

Student Jayasanka Bagpelli, who was at the party where Theerthala was stabbed, also dismissed police claims that race played no part.

"The police weren't there, we were," he told AFP in the foyer of Royal Melbourne Hospital, where he and friends were waiting for news about

Theerthala's condition in the intensive care unit.

"They were saying 'Don't touch us you Indians' and 'Indians go home' before they got the screwdriver.

"I feel lucky to be alive and my friend got poked in the brain."

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he was horrified at the attacks but defended the police response.

"Any act of violence, any decent human being just responds with horror at the sorts of attack which have occurred recently," he said.

"But the key thing is to make sure our law enforcement authorities are doing the best they can. I am confident they are."