A Muslim couple shown in video footage being subjected to racial abuse on a Sydney train have been urged to come forward by NSW Police.
Officers are reviewing the footage, posted online, which shows a woman racially abusing the couple on a train to Sydney Airport yesterday.
Police said they had not received a formal complaint about the incident and were encouraging the victims to come forward.
"We encourage anyone who is the victim of a biased motivated crime to report the matter to local police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000," NSW Police said.
The video, which has been uploaded online and viewed nearly 80,000 times, was recorded by 23-year-old Stacey Eden, who can be heard telling a woman to stop verbally abusing the Muslim woman.
Ms Eden, a pathology worker, told ABC News she was catching a train home to Mascot on the Airport Line at around 1:40pm on Wednesday afternoon when she noticed an elderly woman begin speaking to a man and woman with a baby.
The woman was wearing a headscarf.
"I was just listening to my music," Ms Eden said.
"The old lady actually bent over and touched the lady's headscarf while she was talking. I didn't think anything of it."
Ms Eden said she noticed the woman was verbally abusing the couple, who said nothing.
"The lady next to me was saying things like 'all the people that were dying were because of the Muslims in the world and look what's happening overseas'," she said.
Ms Eden said the woman continued by saying: "Read the newspapers, why are you following this religion for, why do you wear things like that so you can marry a man who's going to go marry a six-year-old?"
"I was like, 'this isn't right, why are you saying these kinds of things?'" Ms Eden said.
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Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane from the Australian Human Rights Commission said Ms Eden did the right thing.
"One of the most powerful things that anyone can do is to send a message that abuse is not acceptable," Dr Soutphommasane said.
"When people abuse others and that is met by silence it can embolden them to do it again."
He said Australians should treat all fellow citizens and visitors respectfully.
"It's always disappointing to see people being subjected to harassment or abuse in public places," he said.
"It's important that everyone who lives here or visits here receives a fair go and is treated [with] decency and respect."
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In the video, Ms Eden can be heard telling the elderly woman to leave the other woman's dress alone.
"She wears it for herself, OK," she said in the video.
"She wears it because she wants to be modest with her body, not because of people like you who are going to sit there and disrespect her."
The older woman can be heard mentioning beheadings, the Sydney siege and suggesting the woman was an "ISIS supporter".
Ms Eden said she missed her Mascot stop to make sure the couple felt safe, and once she saw them get off at their airport terminal, she got off at Wolli Creek.
"I was actually worried about what was going to happen," she said.
"I stayed on the train for a few more stops just to make sure everything was going to be OK.
"As they got off they thanked me."
The victim's husband, Hafeez Ahmed Bhatti, posted a thank you message on Facebook which said: "This video was not made by me. That is what happened to us on a Sydney train, God bless Stacey Eden she supported us".
Ms Eden said she felt compelled to stand up because no one else was doing anything.
