VIRGINIA, Jun 26: Indian-American Sikh couple were found guilty of forcing their relative into labour in Virginia of the US.
The couple, Harmanpreet Singh (30) and Kulbir Kaur (43), has since divorced.
“The defendants exploited their relationship with the victim to lure him to the United States with false promises that they would help enroll him in school,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“The defendants confiscated the victim’s immigration documents and subjected him to threats, physical force and mental abuse to coerce him to work long hours for minimal pay.
“This sentence should send a strong message that such forced labour will not be tolerated in our communities. The Justice Department is committed to fully enforcing our federal human trafficking statutes to vindicate the rights of survivors and hold human traffickers accountable for such shameful exploitation of vulnerable victims,” she added.
“The crimes committed by these defendants are not merely violations of the law; they are an afront to humanity,” said US Attorney Jessica D Aber for the Eastern District of Virginia.
“The defendants lured the victim to travel from India to Virginia to work at their gas station where they exploited him for over three years,” said Assistant Director Michael Nordwall of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division.
“The FBI will continue to work in all communities to stop forced labour trafficking and the psychological and physical violence that comes with it.”
Following a two-week trial in January, a federal jury in the Eastern District of Virginia convicted Singh and Kaur of conspiracy to commit forced labour, forced labour, harbouring for financial gain and document servitude.
The evidence presented at trial demonstrated that, in 2018, the defendants enticed the victim, Singh’s cousin and then a minor, to travel to the United States from India with false promises of helping enroll him in school.
After the victim arrived in the United States, the defendants took his immigration documents and instead forced him to provide labour and services at Singh’s store for over three years, between March 2018 and May 2021.
According to the evidence presented at trial, Singh and Kaur compelled the victim to work at the store – including cleaning, cooking, stocking and handling the cash register and store records – between 12 to 17 hours a day, nearly every day, for minimal pay.
The FBI Richmond Field Office investigated the case.
Assistant US Attorneys Avi Panth and Peter S Duffey for the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorney Matthew Thiman of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit prosecuted the case. (UNI)
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