Couple found guilty of trafficking victims from India and Nepal

ILLUSTRATION

An Indian American couple from Stockton has been found guilty to the charges of forced labor of workers from India and Nepal.
After an 11-day trial, a federal jury found Satish Kartan, 45, and his wife, Sharmistha Barai, 40, guilty on March 14 of conspiracy to obtain forced labor and two counts of obtaining forced labor. 

Satish Kartan, 45, and his wife Sharmistha Barai, 45, took advantage of overseas workers, forcing them to work without pay, physically abusing them and threatening them of negative repercussions if they tried to leave, Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband said.

“Kartan and Barai did not simply fail to pay victims for their work,” said Sean Ragan, Special Agent in Charge of the Sacramento FBI Field Office. “They deprived them of their dignity and robbed them of their federally-protected civil rights."

Human trafficking victims flew from India and Nepal to testify against the couple.

During the trial, it was revealed that between February 2014 and October 2016, Kartan and Barai hired workers from overseas to perform domestic labor in their home in Stockton. 

In advertisements seeking workers on the internet and India-based newspapers, the defendants made false claims regarding the wages and the duties of employment. Then, once the workers arrived at the defendants’ Stockton residence, the couple forced them to work 18 hours a day with limited rest and nourishment. Few of them were paid any wages. 

The defendants kept their domestic workers from leaving, and induced them to keep working for them, by threatening them, by creating an atmosphere of fear, control, and disempowerment, and at times by physically hitting or burning them. When a victim pushed back or said she wanted to leave, it got worse.

According to evidence presented at trial, the defendants struck one worker on multiple occasions. Barai threatened to kill her and throw her bones in the garbage, backhanded her across the face for talking back, and slammed her hands down on a gas stove, causing her to suffer first and second degree burns on her hands from the flames. 

The defendants also threatened several other victims to coerce them to keep working, including by telling the victims they would report them to police or immigration authorities if they tried to leave. 

Throughout the victims’ time in the defendants’ home, they were deprived of sleep and food. The defendants subjected the victims to verbal abuse and harassment in an effort to intimidate them into continuing to provide labor and services.

Kartan and Barai are scheduled to be sentenced on June 6. Each defendant faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. 

“Human trafficking is a disgraceful and unacceptable crime. The defendants in this case took advantage of overseas workers, forcing them to work without pay, physically abusing them, and threatening negative repercussions if they tried to leave,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband. “The Justice Department will continue to investigate and vigorously prosecute human traffickers in order to bring justice to victims.”

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