One of us evil NRIs no less.

Things have come a full circle. Gone are the days when Indians were enslaved by the British and other European powers. Today, Indians are at the forefront of the IT Revolution. Also, these days with the power of Al Gore’s creation at their fingertips, slavemasters can shop for slaves from the comfort of their living room. Isn’t it but natural that some Indians want to combine the two?

That is exactly what desi multimillionaire couple, Varsha and Mahender Sabhnani, are in trouble for.

Federal prosecutors have formally charged the Indian-American multimillionaire couple who are accused of enslaving and abusing two Indonesian women with forced labour and harbouring illegal immigrants.

Now I’m not much of a multi-millionaire or slave owner, so I cannot speak with much authority on the topic but common sense suggests that in this day and age if you own slaves, the least you should do is ensure they don’t draw too much attention to themselves.

The investigation began when one of the women wearing only pants and towel was found wandering near a fast food establishment and the employees called the police. She explained with help of an interpreter that she had been abused and said that there was another woman in the house. The police searched the house and found the other lady also.

Also in this age of political correctness and trade unions, if you’re a private limited slave owner do not treat your slaves like desi consultants treat H1B workers. Also, don’t make bigoted remarks against their religion.

The women, identified as Nona and Samirah, said they were expected to hide when someone came to the house. They were forced to work for long hours, made to sleep on mats in the kitchen and Sabhnani also allegedly made remarks derogatory to their religion — Islam.

And this is an open question for all slave masters – what’s with the punishments? What do you think your slaves are? Contestants in Fear Factor?

Among other things, both women were scalded with hot water, forced to climb stairs repeatedly, take several cold water showers and eat hot chilies as punishment.

Failure to follow above advice may result in jail time. Oh, and don’t skimp on money, desi-ishtyle, by firing your lawyer. From being enslaved to maintaining slaves, Indian people seem to have come a long way and neither one of those is in a positive sense.

Ending on a more serious note, human trafficking is illegal in the United State. Around a million people worldwide are trafficked across border – 80% of them are women and half of those are underage. Around 17,000 persons are smuggled into the US each year as part of this abominable trade.

Looks like you've just discovered us. Add our RSS feed to keep up with the new posts.