The >brutal murder of an Indian national, Prabha Arun Kumar, in Sydney on March 7 has reignited debates around the safety of Indians abroad. The spate of violent attacks on Indians in Australia over the past decade has persistently fuelled nagging tensions in India-Australia relations, puncturing the sense of optimism that had emerged on that front. Ruling out racial motivation behind the attack, >Australia has promised that the perpetrators of the crime would be brought to justice; a special detective squad has been assigned to investigate it. But given Australia’s generally lackadaisical response in such contexts in the past, India has reason to be sceptical of these promises. The series of attacks on Indian students about half a decade ago had been severely condemned by India. The government had questioned the effectiveness of the steps taken then by the Australian authorities, and issued a “restrained travel advisory”, asking Indian students to take basic precautions in being alert to their own security. The insensitivity shown by Australian officials — who were often in denial mode — in responding to these attacks had come to notice in India at that time. So one can only hope that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s recent call to her Australian counterparts for complete cooperation in resolving the issue is met with the needed level of seriousness at least this time.
The tragic event will, it is to be hoped, lead to a broader debate concerning the conditions of Indians abroad. First, the government can consider adopting “smart” means to ensure the safety of Indians while abroad, especially in times of crisis. For instance, Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) had, in 2008, set up a ‘Locate’ system to act as a people-tracking register. This has now been replaced by a country-specific alert system, via email, Twitter and Facebook. Second, the Indian government has often been criticised for not doing enough about the conditions Indian migrant workers face abroad. For instance, a 2014 Amnesty International report lays forth the human rights abuses encountered by Indian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia. By means of diplomatic pressure and bilateral agreements, the Indian government has to ensure that these migrant workers are not denied any of their labour rights as provided under international law. Third, an ethical discourse on the conditions of Indians abroad has to simultaneously involve an inward gaze on how Indians have been treating their own guests from overseas. Just last week, a mob in Bengaluru chased and attacked Africans in their suburban locality. With racial prejudices, delays and inefficiencies at play, the criminal justice system often proves unequal to the task of coming to the aid of many such foreign citizens while in India.