Millionaire Indian-American Couple Held Guilty of Cruelty to Maids

December 18, 2007 at 11:45 AM Women Health News
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Millionaire Indian-American Couple Held Guilty of Cruelty to Maids
They are in perfume business. But with Shakespeare, one could perhaps ask them, would all the perfumes of Arabia sweeten their hands?

To the shame and horror of his fellow Indians, Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani (51), and his Indonesian wife Varsha (40) have been held guilty of subjecting two Indonesian housemaids to repeated psychological and physical abuse in their New York mansion. The millionaire couple are both naturalized US citizens.

They  were each convicted on 12 federal counts that included forced labour, conspiracy, involuntary servitude and harboring aliens. The appalling affair has been described as modern day slavery.

The Sabhnanis, who have four children and operate a worldwide perfume business out of their Muttontown home on Long Island’s Gold Coast, could face up to 40 years in prison, although attorneys predicted the punishment would be considerably less.

One of the couple’s daughters, Dakshina, collapsed in the front row as the verdict was read, prompting the judge to clear the courtroom while medical personnel attended to her.

The allegations against the couple included forcing the Indonesian maids to work 18 hours or more a day, beatings with brooms and umbrellas, slashing with knives and making them repeatedly climb stairs and take freezing showers as punishments punishment for misdeeds that included sleeping late or stealing food from trash bins because they were poorly fed.

The couple were arrested in May after one of the maids, wearing only pants and a towel, was found wandering near a Dunkin Donut restaurant.

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