Even as a top police officer in Victoria admitted that his officers have long known that Indians are disproportionately targeted by criminals in Melbourne, Australian Facebook sites continue to flourish despite protests from Indians in Australia

Police aware Indians are targeted: Oz top cop

According to the Sun-Herald newspaper, groups such as 'I Think Indian People Should Wear Deodorant', 'Stop Whinging Indians' and 'Australia: Indians You Have A Right to Leave' have not been removed.

"I don't think it's just a Facebook problem -- it's a social problem, a problem in the society," Gupta said.

According to the Sun-Herald, more than half a dozen Australian groups that are specifically anti-Indian are still active on Facebook.

It says, "On top of that, there are many broadly racist groups, including 'F... Off - We're Full and Speak English' or 'P... Off!!!', which has 54,000 members and is growing at a rate of about 2,000 people a week."

Meanwhile, the admission by the top cop last week has been hailed as a "breakthrough" by some in the Indian community.

He said, "There is no question, regardless of the motives, Indian students have to a degree been targeted in robberies and that is not OK.

"We recognised this problem before it hit the public".

Victorian police continue to maintain there is no evidence to suggest the stabbing death of 21-year old accounting graduate Nitin Garg or the recent torching of a Sikh temple in Melbourne's suburbs are racially motivated.

But the police officer conceded that Indians living in Melbourne were disproportionately targeted, particularly in robberies.

According to the respected The Australian newspaper, "The latest police statistics show that 1,447 Indians were the victims of crime including robberies and assaults -- about 50 per cent of which occur in the workplace."

He added, "I have said from day one undoubtedly some of these attacks have a racist motive or there is a racist element to these attacks."

Gupta construed the remarks as an overdue admission of racism against Melbourne's Indian community. "It is a breakthrough, it is an endorsement of what we have been saying for so long," he said.

"This is what we have been fighting for, they have acknowledged it. They have been in denial. I don't understand why. I am so glad he has come out and it's only going to put more pressure on the politicians."

The police officer's remarks come on the heels of a former defence force chief's revelation that the police were "stuck in the difficult position of having their objectivity, and reluctance to jump to conclusions, misinterpreted as a dismissal of racism."

The retired general, who lived in India for a year, told ABC radio that Australians were "disinclined to down-play, much less dismiss, the potential racist elements in what is becoming a litany of criminality."

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