A 23-year-old Indian student, Charanpreet Singh, was viciously attacked and left unconscious in central Adelaide after a minor parking dispute escalated into a racially motivated assault by a group of men on July 19, around 9:20 p.m. . The attackers, reportedly five in number, hurled racial slurs such as “F*** off, Indian” before delivering a brutal assault using fists and possibly metal knuckles.

Singh suffered brain trauma, facial fractures, broken nose, and serious eye injuries. He remains hospitalized, undergoing surgery and observing an overnight stay at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

South Australian police arrested a 20-year-old man from Enfield, charging him with assault causing harm; the other attackers remain at large as law enforcement reviews CCTV footage and appeals for public assistance.

The incident has sparked outrage in Adelaide’s Indian community and drawn condemnation from South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, who described the attack as “deeply disturbing” and called it unacceptable in the state. Singh shared his emotional trauma, saying from hospital bed: “You can change anything in your body, but you can't change the colours.”