Source: The Standard-Times

http://www.s-t.com/daily/06-03/06-29-03/a06lo021.htm

On June 29, 2003 The Standard-Times reported that "friends of beating victim Saurabh Bhalerao say they haven't experienced the kind of hate that police believe motivated four attackers who mistook him for a Muslim... Fellow UMass Dartmouth student Bhushan Bauskar said the perpetrators would have beaten Mr. Bhalerao, who is Indian and Hindu, even if they hadn't thought he was Muslim... Also in town for the conference, 18-year-old Bijal Patel, a freshman at the University of Virginia, said large religious and cultural gatherings were canceled after the attacks and her parents worried about her wearing traditional clothing for religious programs."