Indian American couple sentenced for forcing cousin to labor

Harmanpreet Singh and Kulbir Kaur forced Singh’s cousin to labor at their gas station and convenience store for years

By DesiMax Wire

An Indian American Sikh couple from Chesterfield, Virginia, has been sentenced for compelling the labor of the man’s younger cousin at their gas station and convenience store for over three years. The couple has since divorced.

Harmanpreet Singh, 31, was sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison and Kulbir Kaur, 43, was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison on June 25, according to a press release from US Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Virginia.

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 labor, forced labor, harboring 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 arriving in the United States, the defendants took the victim’s immigration documents and instead forced him to provide labor 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.

RELATED: Indian American couple convicted of forced labor of relative (January 26, 2024)

Singh and Kaur used various coercive means, including subjecting the victim to physical abuse and, at times, degrading living conditions to compel him to continue working.

The evidence showed that the defendants left the victim at the store to sleep in a back office for days at a time on multiple occasions, limited his access to food, refused to provide medical care or education, used surveillance equipment to monitor the victim both at the store and in their home, refused his requests to return to India and made him overstay his visa.

The defendants also forced the victim to marry Kaur and used that marriage to threaten to take the victim’s family’s properties or falsely report him to the police if he left.

The evidence showed that Singh pulled the victim’s hair, slapped and kicked him when he requested his immigration documents back and tried to leave and, on three different occasions, threatened the victim with a revolver for trying to take a day off and for trying to leave.

“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, and then subjected him to physical and mental abuse to keep him working for their own profit,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

“Today’s sentence should send a strong message that human trafficking 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.”

“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. “These defendants preyed on the victim’s earnest desire to attain an education and improve his life. Instead, they deprived him of the most basic human needs and robbed him of his freedom. We remain steadfastly committed to securing justice for victims of human trafficking.”

“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 labor trafficking and the psychological and physical violence that comes with it.”