A 20-year-old man was stabbed in a western suburb in Melbourne after he had allegedly racially abused a group of Indian students here in possibly the first act of retaliation.

The victim allegedly said: “You are black. You don’t belong here. Go away from our country,” The Age newspaper reported.

The Age report said a man, who did not want his name published, said the Indians took the action “in self-defence” after police failed to respond to their call for protection in the wake of attacks on fellow Indian students.The stabbing came on a day a 23-year-old Indian student, the 11th person from the community, was assaulted within a month in Australia. Kamal Jit was found unconscious and bleeding by another Indian student in western suburb of the city on Sunday.

The attack on the Australian victim was the first time Indian students appeared to have retaliated against violent attacks against them as they walk back home late at night, The Age said.

Police said a car believed to belong to people attacking Indians was torched at a factory near the station in western suburb. They were looking for two dark-skinned men aged between 23 and 29 years in connection with the attacks.

Chairman of the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria, Sam Afra, said it would be unacceptable for the Indian community to take the law into its own hands.

"There is a danger this will become like a chain reaction with the victim becoming the perpetrator. We don’t want to get to that,” he said.

A Metropolitan Ambulance Service spokesman said the 20-year-old man stabbed in the early hours of Monday morning was treated at the scene before being transported to the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

The Age report said a man, who did not want his name published, said the Indians took the action “in self-defence” after police failed to respond to their call for protection in the wake of attacks on fellow Indian students.

His claims were verified by another person who witnessed the attacks but did not want to be identified.