Indian-American couple jailed for forcing cousin to work at gas station

PTC News Desk: An Indian-American couple was sentenced to prison by a US court for forcing their cousin to work for them for more than three years at their convenience store and petrol station by bringing him to the country under the guise of assisting with his school enrollment.

The court sentenced Harmanpreet Singh, 31, to 135 months (11.25 years) in prison and Kulbir Kaur, 43, to 87 months (7.25 years). The court also ordered them to pay USD 225,210.76 (about Rs 1.87 crores) in reparation to the victim, his cousin.

Since then, the pair has separated. The child was lured to the United States by the defendants using false assurances that they would assist in getting him enrolled in school, according to 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," she stated.

"This sentence should send a strong message that such forced labour will not be tolerated in our communities," she stated.

The defendants took advantage of the victim's sincere desire to better his life and pursue an education, according to US Attorney Jessica D. Aber for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Rather, the lawyer claimed, they took away his freedom and the most fundamental human necessities.

According to the Department of Justice, the trial's evidence proved that the defendants lured Singh's cousin, who was at the time a juvenile, to fly to the US from India in 2018 by making false claims that they would assist with his school enrollment.

According to the report, the victim was forced to work for Singh's store for more than three years, from March 2018 to May 2021, after the defendants stole his immigration paperwork.

According to the evidence given during the trial, Singh and Kaur forced the victim to work at the business for little pay for between 12 and 17 hours a day, almost every day, performing tasks including cooking, cleaning, stocking, and handling the cash register and store records.

The evidence demonstrated that they employed a variety of coercive tactics to force the victim to continue working, including seizing his immigration documents, abusing him physically, threatening him with violence or other serious damage, and even putting him in subpar living conditions.

Based on the evidence, the couple used surveillance equipment to monitor the victim both at the store and at home, denied his requests to return to India, forced him to overstay his visa, restricted his access to food, refused to provide medical care or education, and left him sleeping in a back office for days on multiple occasions.

Additionally, the defendants coerced the victim into marrying Kaur, then threatened to seize the victim's family's belongings or fabricate a police report if the victim fled.

The evidence also revealed that when the victim tried to leave or asked for his immigration paperwork back, Singh kicked, slapped, and yanked his hair. He threatened to use a handgun on the victim three separate times for attempting to take a day off and leave.

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