Last week, Mahender Sabhnani was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison for enslaving two Indonesian house maids and subjecting them to years of physical and emotional torture: Three years for slave-case husband.
The U.S. District Judge determined that the Long Island millionaire did not inflict physical injury on the two women, "but he permitted all of these things to go on--these dreadful things--he had to know." Sabhnani's wife, Varsha, was identified as the one who inflicted the abuse, and received 11 years in prison. Justice.
The Sabhnanis were arrested in May 2007 and convicted last year of 12 counts, including forced labor, peonage, harboring aliens, servitude and related conspiracy charges. The case, which made national news, brought to light the awful truth, that human slavery and trafficking is still very much alive and happening in America: Long Island case turns spotlight on hundreds trapped as slaves.
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