CALIFORNIA: An Indian-American couple have been indicted by a grand jury for forced labour and conspiracy to commit forced labour as announced by the Department of Justice. Satish Kartan, 43, and wife Sharmistha Barai, 38, were also charged with additional charges of fraud in contacting foreign labour and benefiting from forced labour.
As per court papers, between Feb 21, 2014, and Oct 3, 2016, Kartan and Barai hired workers from overseas to perform domestic labour in their homes in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Stockton and elsewhere in the US. The defendants, in their advertisements seeking workers on the internet and India-based newspapers, made false claims regarding the wages and the duties of employment. Once the workers arrived, both Kartan and Barai forced them to work 18 hours a day with limited rest and nourishment. They didn't pay, instead using force, physical restraint and coercive conduct to get them to perform labour and services.
Announced by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, and Acting US Attorney Phillip A Talbert of the Eastern District of California, the indictment alleges that Kartan and Barai struck one worker on multiple occasions, including one incident where the former grabbed her hands and caused them to be burned over the flames of a gas stove. It also alleges that the defendants failed to pay another worker and told her that they would call the police if she tried to leave. Both the accused were arrested on October 21, 2016, on a criminal complaint and were released on bond with special conditions that prohibit them from hiring any non-relatives to perform domestic services or child care work for them.
They were also prohibited from directly or indirectly contacting any of their prior domestic workers. If convicted, each defendant will face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
