The cartoonist whose controversial cartoon published in an Indian paper likened Australian police to the Ku Klux Klan said he was responding to a police failure to acknowledge racist attacks against Indians.
The cartoon, published in Delhi's Mail Today, drew condemnation across Australia from police and political leaders on Friday for showing a figure with an Australian police badge dressed in a pointed white hood as a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
It was published in response to homicide investigators in Victoria being unable to say if the recent killing of 21-year-old Indian student Nitin Garg in a Melbourne park was racially motivated.
The Ku Klux Klan-dressed officer in the cartoon states: "We are yet to ascertain the nature of the crime."
Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard condemned the cartoon on Friday as the Indian media continued to accuse Australia of not doing enough to solve the late-night stabbing.
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"Any suggestion of that kind is deeply, deeply offensive to the police officers involved and I would absolutely condemn the making of a comment like that," Ms Gillard told reporters in Brisbane.
The cartoonist, R Prasad, told AAP the cartoon depicted an official acceptance of racism by failing to act against race attacks.
"I was responding to the news about the Australian authorities and police refusing to acknowledge the underlying racism in the attacks against Indian youth, particularly the murder of Nitin Garg," Mr Prasad said in an email.
"This is not an isolated incident and the Australian police's response amounted to a cynical acceptance of the race attack."
Mr Prasad said he had been reacting to an injustice.
"Instead of an open minded investigation without ruling out the possibility of racism and hate crime behind the death of Nitin Garg, the Australian police made comments that seemed to point towards opportunistic crime and not a race attack; this surely is injustice," he said.
When asked why he depicted Australia police as members of the Ku Klux Klan, Mr Prasad said this was a "terribly wrong interpretation" and cartoons were always exaggerated.
"I don't offer a cartoon appreciation course, but still want to underline the basic fact that cartoon is not factual reporting of events, it is an artist's comment on news," he said.
"I have already said that the hood or the cloak of the Ku Klux Klan is a globally known and recognised cultural signifier that represents racism.
"The police badge on the cloak is a symbol of official acceptance of racism by not acting against race attacks."
The cartoon appeared on Tuesday after Mr Garg, an Indian national, was stabbed to death over the weekend, the latest in a series of attacks on Indians in Australia that has strained relations between the two countries.
Victorian police are investigating, but say there is no evidence to suggest a racial motive.
