Vic bus assault on deaf man, autistic boy

An autistic boy is too scared to go on a bus after allegedly being attacked along with a deaf man in Melbourne.

The 32-year-old man and 14-year-old boy were assaulted last month after getting on a bus at Waverley Gardens Shopping Centre, police say.

A man went up to the deaf man and asked him what he was looking at, then hit him in the face when he got no response, police said on Thursday.

The boy moved to the front of his bus but the man allegedly followed him and assaulted the 14-year-old.

The boy had cuts and bruising to his face and has not felt safe to travel on buses since the September 7 attack, police said.

"It's appalling to see this behaviour on our public transport," Sergeant Cassandra Stone said.

"The fact that this man targeted vulnerable individuals on the bus only adds to the cowardly nature of this attack."

Police have released CCTV images of the man, who got off the bus in Keysborough.

He is believed to be aged between 15 and 25.