The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Indian high commissioner and consulate general in Australia to help prevent Indian students from falling prey to fake educational institutions there.
A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan passed this order after Attorney General G E Vahanvati informed the court that the external affairs ministry had laid down all guidelines for students going to Australia.
The court was hearing a petition seeking a direction to the government to take action for checking racial attacks against Indians studying in Australia.
During the hearing, the court was informed of cases where students were duped by fake universities in Australia.
The attorney general said the affidavit filed by ministry of external affairs has mentioned the websites that the students should go through for checking the veracity of the universities.
Meanwhile, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said they had stepped up "visible policing" in vulnerable areas and was amending laws as part of steps to prevent recurrence of such incidents.
She said they had initiated steps to ensure that Indians aspiring to receive education there got "accurate" information like rules and the required financial resources so that they face no problems.
Gillard, who was in New Delhi to assuage security apprehensions of Indians in the aftermath of attacks, maintained that Australia was a "safe" and a welcome nation for Indians.
Suggesting that the assaults on Indian students were not racist in nature, she said they were motivated by robbery and other law and order issues.
"The advice from police was that these attacks were motivated by robbery and these were genuine policing and crime problems in parts of the cities where these attacks occurred," Gillard said.
"However, whatever the motivation for these attacks, if someone is hurt, we want to respond and we want to do whatever we can to make sure that people are safe and that is the reason that police presence has been increased," she said.
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