Back in May, I wrote a post about the Muttontown/Long Island couple who were accused of treating their Indonesian maids like “modern-day slaves”. It is time for an update (thanks, various tipsters):
A jury on Monday convicted a millionaire couple of enslaving two Indonesian women they brought to their mansion to work as housekeepers.
Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, and his wife, Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 45, were each convicted of all charges in a 12-count federal indictment that included forced labor, conspiracy, involuntary servitude, and harboring aliens. [MSNBC]
In addition to grueling 18-hour days, Samirah and Enung were “fortunate enough” to receive discipline and opportunities like those detailed below:
Allegations of abuse included beatings with brooms and umbrellas, slashings with knives, being made to repeatedly climb stairs and take freezing-cold showers as punishment for misdeeds that included sleeping late or stealing food from trash bins because they were poorly fed.
Samirah, the woman who fled the house in May, said she was forced to eat dozens of chili peppers and then was forced to eat her own vomit when she failed to digest the peppers, prosecutors said… [MSNBC]
This next bit is clearly a misinterpretation of actual events; I’m sure that Mrs. Sabhnani was merely trying to assist with hair removal. That’s quite thoughtful of her!
Enung testified that Samirah’s nude body once was covered in plastic wrapping tape on orders from Varsha Sabhnani, who then instructed Enung to rip it off. “When I pulled it off, she was screaming,” the housekeeper said through an interpreter before breaking down in tears on the witness stand. [MSNBC]
These disposable women should have been grateful that they were allowed to come to America, so that they could live in a mansion– and be stashed in a 3’x3′ space whenever visitors came, lest they embarrass their generous employers with their bruises and scars. If they hadn’t been so gluttonous as to sift through the trash for scraps, then they wouldn’t have been punished. Makes perfect sense…if you’re EVIL. But wait! There’s MORE!
The Sabhnanis’ defense attorneys contended the two women concocted the story of abuse as a way of escaping the house for more lucrative opportunities. [CNN]
You know, when I’m on the prowl for more lucrative opportunities, I always make sure that I rush in to a Dunkin’ Donuts with naught but a towel for a shirt and then fake abuse while pleading for help. Works every time.
They argued the housekeepers practiced witchcraft and may have abused themselves as part of an Indonesian self-mutilation ritual. They also said the couple went on frequent vacations that would have given the two women ample opportunity to flee. [MSNBC]
Obviously they didn’t practice witch stuff enough! I mean, if you don’t have the power to ingest 25 chili peppers like it ain’t no thang, well, you’re an embarrassment to your kind. Actually, it’s a good thing these witches were terrible at their craft; imagine what manner of wicked mischief they might have inflicted on their poor, persecuted, millionaire employers, had they had the time or energy provided by scraps of food from the garbage, to work on such things.
I didn’t think I could loathe these people more, but after reading that “strategy” put forth by their lawyers, I think I might. Then again, perhaps it’s heartless of us to blame this couple, when their greedy witch-employees just wanted to have some traditional, self-mutilatin’ fun? The Sabhnanis are the real victims here. I mean, look at this:
Varsha Sabhnani, 45, and one of her daughters collapsed in disbelief as the damning verdict was read – and were taken to a hospital for treatment. [NYDailyNews]
Maybe histrionics are like cooties? Contagious?
Defense attorney Jeffrey Hoffman said he would appeal. “Apparently, the jury was taken by the histrionics …” of the Indonesian women, he said. [CNN]
Here’s the best quote ever:
“We never did anything to anybody,” the Sabhnanis’ daughter Tina screamed. “How could this happen to us in America?” [NYDailyNews]
Yes, Tina. How COULD this happen, not just in America, but in your own home?
I meant the first quoted comment btw, not the second one
It’s really unfortunate that this is being posted on Sepia without caution and commented about in this way. No one here was in the court room; no one here heard or saw all the evidence. You would be shocked at how many innocents are in prison; or at how prosecutors will use whatever evidence they can, whether truthful or not, to convict. And to rail against the children without having all the facts as to their culpability is unfortunate. But one thing that all human beings -brown, white, black, yellow, rich, poor – share is the ability to feel good about themselves after ranting against convicted criminals. “I was in prison and ye came unto me. As much as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
I actually really agree with folks who argue that this isn’t a uniquely “Indian” trait. I’ve met people from all sorts of backgrounds in the U.S. who think that their (relative) access to wealth or citizenship entitles them to abuse people who they traffic into this country for whatever purpose. It’s one of the most blatant forms of slavery that persists, and as A.R. mentioned, it flourishes in places where you are discouraged from knowing your neighbors. It reminds me of the infamous NY case where a woman was brutally murdered while several witnesses looked on — no one stopped the attacker and no one called the police. I have a feeling the Sabhanis had similar protection.
Also, I don’t really care if they were Punjabi Sikhs or Sindhi Hindus or Lemurian Zoroastrians. Their actions are disgusting and despicable (and not unique to any one people or ethnic/religious group).
There is a lot of anti-Indian sentiment in Long Island. I know some schools in Herricks, Hicksville and Syosset are more than 20/30% Indian so we are a conspicuous minority there. Also the LI Indian community often has a lot of money and are flaunting it big time. Like tearing down small houses on half acre plots to build mcmansions and driving around in Lexuses blaring Bollywood music.
Hiring full time nannies and maids for substandard wages is not at all unsual (the maids and nannies accept it cause its all cash and is considered a lot of money back in India).
I’ve seen a lot of anti-Indians entiments like Indians of course will behave like this because Indians are used to oppressing the dalits in India.
I wonder if Mike Mukasey would consider this torture. Maybe the Sabhnanis should have tried the defense that they thought behavior on Long Island, like that other island, Guantanamo, is not subject to basic human norms.
I agree with the outrage expressed by the majority of the posters. What a disgraceful family.
Yes, people other than Indians abuse their help.
Yes, many Indians treat their help well.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a serious issue that needs to be discussed. Sorry if it hurts your feelings to have bad things said about your “country” (where do you live?) but it is a problem, and it needs to be discussed in the open, not hidden away because it makes you feel bad, or because it doesn’t happen all the time.
Becasue this is a South Asian American blog, and this is a story about S. Asian Americans abusing their help, I think its appropriate to discuss these issues. How you don’t really baffles me.
Playing the devils advocate for this story, how many people think that this is a true story. I mean why do we so confidently side the poor and treat the rich as evil monsters. I smell something more is happening than what we see apparently. Maybe this is the maids opportunity to make big money on some angry outbursts from their boss. Just a thought.
Nothing is more satisfying that watching a bunch of rich f*cks get their come-uppance. As a punishment their daughters should pay a visit to a hostel in bratislava.
They should have water boarded the maids. Apparently, thats not torture. Also sleep depravation, setting the dogs on the maids and other techniques which are routinely defended by most Republicans.
You should have used the handle ‘Sabhnani’s advocate’, supporting these people and saying you support Lucifer is actually a step down.
I’ll never cease to be amazed at how badly, how horribly one human being can treat another.
Golfastrian,
Please don’t stretch your imagination to attribute things to me that I never said. I never said we shouldn’t discuss this South Asian American couple and their mistreatment of their help. For me this is a story of wealthy couple who abused their help, and they are Indian Americans. Anyway we have clearly different opinions on how these discussions usually progress so I respectfully bow out.
I’ll never cease to be amazed at how badly, how horribly one human being can treat another.
and still consider oneself not to be a living embodiment of a cockroach.
I live in the development these people live in. I don’t know them, but I know of people in the neighborhood that do. It turns out no one has ever seen either of these women in the neighborhood, even people who were in the house. So there is truth to the fact that the women were told to hide when company came over. Also, it turns out these were not the first Indonesian women in the house to be starved. When Donna Litras, the perfume company worker, (who has cancer and risked her job and insurance to testify against the Sabhnanis)gave these women food, she threw away the wrapper it came in so as not to get into trouble with Varsha. It turns out another employee years ago got yelled at when she fed the previous help, also a woman from Indonesia.
These people deserve everything they get.
All
I know that there is disbelief among many people on the details of the torture the enslaved women are claiming. The thing is that if you have never worked with victims of abuse/trafficking or this is the first story you have come across it does sound unbelievable. I have been volunteering at Maitri for the last 14 years and in the last 7-8 years we have been getting a number of domestic and sexual trafficking cases where the victims are from South Asia. Based on my experience of what other victims have told us, I believe the women in this case.
It is totally sick what some human beings can do others when they have them in total control.
sp
I pondered that…I think it was Nala who said upthread that the youngest child was 12 when the victims came to “work” for their family and she wonders what happened before that, etc. I immediately thought “maybe they had other help”.
To all the people who are exercised over the fact that we’re glad justice was served– do you know something that the judge, jury et al didn’t? If you did have some proof of the Sabhnani’s relative innocence, then you should’ve spoken up earlier and somewhere more useful than a blog.
Did you see the scars on these women, oh virtuous contrarians? Perhaps you, too, believe that they were witches who were mutilating themselves by reslicing their own ears to keep the wounds open?
Look, I’m all for neutrality, but I for one feel like this is a case where these people are guilty. Period. To house them in the same category as people who have been unjustly locked up is an insult to those who have been unjustly locked up.
61 · cookiebrown on December 17, 2007 10:42 PM · Direct link There is an old trope amongst South Indians that “Narth-Indians” are cruel to their servants. Anyone else come across this? Not that this explains anything to do with this case; the Sabhnanis are clearly psychotic, medically speaking. If not, my imagination just boggles…
Without a doubt, I see this all over India. The mentality is ingrained in both the North and South’s head differently. I have a cousin – he’s 43 now – and his family, whom I regard as being very close to me, had a 2nd cousin of his as a live-in maid from ‘~82-~99. My male cousin, back in ’82 actually had sex with her when he was 17, and she got pregnant. She confided all this to my elder sister, and the live-in maid, whom I respect a lot, told my sister that she took some leaf which acted as an abortion drug.
This activity is rampant ALL over India.
Oh yeah, I also been to a Hindu Temple ,and I noticed the ‘upper-caste’ hindus really treat the Nepali Hindus who were there very badly. I didn’t appreciate this at all.
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Devils Advocate, you smell something for sure, but its your idiocy. A jury looked at all the evidence and found these two guilty. Are you suggesting that these two maids from Indonesia were legal geniuses to have manufactured and planted all that evidence so masterfully?
I am taking a short break from writing a large paper, and I certainly will look this up later, but offhand, does anyone know if at all race is being (re)presented in the coverage of this case (the backgrounds of anyone involved, whether the family or the servants)?
“Oh yeah, I also been to a Hindu Temple ,and I noticed the ‘upper-caste’ hindus really treat the Nepali Hindus who were there very badly. I didn’t appreciate this at all.”
I see the same thing in NYC. Guyanese Hindus are considered not to be “real Indians” and are treated rudely when they visit Hindu temples – they have to open up their own Hindu temples because the Indian-Hindu temples are so unwelcoming to them.
I’ve visited a Guyanese Hindu temple in the Bronx and it was amazing. Sad that so many Hindus are ignorant and of this outpost of Hindu culture in the Carribbean
On the contrary, too often it’s the rich who are blindly sided with and the poor people who have been mistreated are swept under the rug and out of sight. While I haven’t seen the evidence that the jury saw, the fact that these two women who were being imprisoned were able to tell their story to authorities and get their captors convicted on all 12 counts brought against them and win out against the Sabhnanis’ high priced defense attorneys speaks volumes about what overwheming evidence there must be..
I’m just glad that the Sabhnani family was not able to purchase their freedom, and will get the punishment they deserve.
Has anyone come across anything that mentions what became of any maids the family had before these two?
Not a lot, as far as I have followed the case (I am open to being corrected on this). The only race-related argument I found, mostly on comment threads, was that the Indonesian women got a better deal here even with all the abuse than they would have got in Indonesia, so they should be happy (and far as I could tell from the handles, such commenters could have been from anywhere).
Possible reasons for race not being a major player are: this is a NY-area case, and most of the continued coverage is from NY-area media outlets. Most other outlets only focused on the arrest and the conviction, not the evidence-collection and trial itself, which together took several months. Secondly, both the accused and the victims in this case are, well, brown, which might have mitigated the worst aspects of race representation.
I dont know how these 2 maids minds work because I have nothing in common with them, but from my perspective their lack of action for so long is dumb as hell.
What were they scared of? That they were illeagal and the police were going to beat them worse then that family?
At any point earlier in their work did they think that $100 a month was worth the beating of a lifetime?
They were sending money back to their country, but who was it for? At 50 something in age, are they working for their stronger younger children? Their parents maybe? Were they kidnapped? If so any kidnapping charges?
Like I said I dont know the facts, but if it is true then I hope they make it through the pain.
Varsha Sabhnani is from an influential Indnoesian/desi family; she threatened to have their husbands jailed, etc. If I were in a foreign country and someone were threatening my family back home, I’d stay put…besides, where would they go? They had never left the house, except under the cover of darkness to discard the trash. They didn’t know english, except for “slave” words like “master”. How would they get help?
They had plenty to be scared of.
They had plenty to be scared of.
No. they could have started an investment bank. Pulled themselves up by the bootstraps. The American way. ooo rah.
You know, that manager of the Dunkin’ Donuts who found this woman deserves praise. It’s so heartbreaking, how randomly it all unfolded and how it might not have unfolded, at all. One of the landscapers for the Sabhnani family had given one of the women some donuts, because she rushed out touching her stomach, pleading “donut, donut” when she saw him taking a coffee break (how this jibes with the only going out at night business is beyond me).
When she finally escaped, she walked about a mile and saw…donuts. She went in. I wonder if it’s because she recognized the fried piece of bread, but whatever. The manager thought she was homeless, gave her coffee, bagels and a jacket to cover herself with…and then she started slapping herself and saying “master…”. THAT’S when the mgr called 911. The one who escaped directed them to the house and the tiny room where they usually got stashed, where they found the other maid.
So heartbreaking. And to think, if the manager had been a dick, and thrown her out…none of this might have been achieved.
More info about the escape and the threats they endured (which possibly prevented them from leaving), via the aptly named People You’ll See in Hell:
What mystifies me is how 6 adults in a family could live with themselves in such a household. It boggles the mind. Wasn’t even one person thinking “this is NOT right”?
Reminds me of the 25th hour. where Monty saves Doyle in the beginning, and at the end he says, “it’s like, every day he has now, wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for me.” And he just goes on existing… w/out knowing that. Of course these people aren’t dogs, but they were certainly treated as such, as their hosts apparently consulted the handbooks of Josef Mengele.
ShallowThinker:
If you come from a countries like India or Indonesia you know that there is the Law as it is written and the “law” as it exists. You don’t know what kind of influence your “master” has with the local authorities in the US and so you are very rightly scared. The fact that in the US law enforcement is not actively malicious (like Indian or Indonesian police are as SOP let’s be honest)would not be known to poor people from poor countries
Was the Dunkin Donut manager an Indian? If he was I wish the media would mention that. Let the public know that Indians are a diverse bunch, lots of good Indians around.
Was the Dunkin Donut manager an Indian?
According to Joe Biden, yes. Seriously, it’s actually a good guess. I’d imagine the two victims here didn’t think all ‘brown’ people were horrible excuses for human beings.
Devil’s Advocate: I smell something more is happening than what we see apparently. Maybe this is the Guyanese Hindus opportunity to make big money on some angry outbursts from Indian-Hindus by opening their own Hindu temples?
P. Kaul: In my opinion this far from depicts how Indian hindus treat hindus from Guyana. Being heartless and cruel towards hindus of a lower caste than you or from a different country than you is definitely not an ‘Indian’ trait to me.
sigh!: before making statements such as above I would like to see some statistical evidence of the probability that an Indian hindu would be rude to a guyanese hindu, period; given this probability I would like to see that probability conditioned on social class and place of residence; then I would like to see some comparative evidence–i.e. from other religions; then I would like to combine the two samples (the Indian sample and the non-indian sample) and then condition the probabilities on social class, region of residence, nature of political system, nature of legal system etc. (with other controls); then if I see that being Indian hindu makes it more likely to be rude to non-indian hindus, all other things being equal, only then would I make statements such as the above. Until them please speak for yourself (I don’t know what that says about you) and leave “Indians” out of it.
Why would their husbands make them or want them to go to a foreign country to make $150 a month? Were they sick or something? If not then those husbands are huge D-bags. Were these women kidnapped?
Please note that I am not on the rich folks side, it is just that it is hard to imagine people doing this to people in America. If they did without a doubt then they should go to jail for 40 years and the kids should go to jail too. 10 years for each of them. Dont need that kind of ignorance in this world.
On the other hand Oprah did do a show on this, on how it is more common then you think. DAMM!! That woman is always ahead of the curve!
vyasa, just changing a few words in my post does change the context but does not imply equivalence in the two cases. Obviously you are way too obtuse to realize this (also i see that you lack the capacity to make conceptual distinctions; you grouped three unlike comments). it would be best if you quit now.
I don’t think they agreed to this amount upfront. They thought they would be getting more.
Honestly, there’s a lot of crap like this that goes on because nobody wants to believe it.
Please note that I am not on the rich folks side, it is just that it is hard to imagine people doing this to people in America
America, F*ck yeah.
That woman is always ahead of the curve!
She is the curve.
JGandhi: I generally agree with you, but I feel there is some truth in learned behaviors that Indians bring to the US. The whites in LI that hate Indians will hate us regardless, but we do need to be honest with ourselves. I agree that the Dalit thing is a red herring, not because it doesn’t happen but because the diaspora in the US tends to be urban rather than agrarian (and Dalits are mostly exploited in the ag sector). I also see Indians exploiting people of the same caste who have “fallen”. I see evidence of this in the way that many Indians interact with people in service professions here in the US. The Shabnani’s seem particularly psycho but I think culture does matter. In the Reddy case several years back, I spoke to some people I thought I knew well who blamed the girls and their parents for their “easy nature” and pointed out all the great things Reddy had done for his ancestral village.
eating chili peppers builds character
ST, I think you’re assuming too much. Just as people are having a hard time imagining this kind of abuse, I think it’s largely because commentators are suffering from the misconception that the Sabhanis are RATIONAL people. These maids, likely lured with the prospect of the American Dream, I’m sure did not sign up for this level of gross abuse. But just as torture survivors or survivors of domestic violence experience deep psychological trauma which leads them to chose options that may not be what you would have chosen, these women are similarly in a vulnerable and harrowing position.
Considering the woman’s preference for Indonesian slaves (let’s call it what it is), it seems like the maids’ attorneys should argue that the abuses qualify as hate crime. because of their
If class and nationality are brought into the mix, this would be a textbook example.
AR:
Mrs. Shabnani comes from an Indian family based in Indonesia which is why they are bringing maids over from there.
Thanks for the update about the perfume brands. I’ve never seen or heard of any of them, so I guess I’m safe. Meanwhile, I know Long Island real estate is expensive, but is anyone else underwhelmed by the picture of their “mansion”?
YES. But I thought it was because I was born and raised in CA, where the houses are totes different from dwellings on the right coast. AFAIK (always need a disclaimer on this site!), we don’t have basements, we fence in our backyards, there’s less of that odd vinyl siding and a lot of the houses have pretty, tiled roofs/look “Spanish”. But it’s easy to do all that when everything is new.
When I was in fifth grade and we visited New York and DC, I remember thinking my cousins’ homes looked “old-fashioned”, but I was ten years old and comparing everything to the house we had just purchased two years before. In those days, once people moved out of historic-home-laden San Francisco, you didn’t have to buy “someone else’s house” (as one of my Aunt’s derisively phrased it). 😉
“Thanks for the update about the perfume brands. I’ve never seen or heard of any of them, so I guess I’m safe. Meanwhile, I know Long Island real estate is expensive, but is anyone else underwhelmed by the picture of their “mansion”?”
By Nassau County standards that house is probably worth millions. You got to remember, 3-4 bedroom dumps go for 500K in Long Island.
In Queens they have townhouses that cost 2-3 million dollars.
I can see how non-NYers would be underwhelmed by NYC real estate. We went to visit some Indians in Charlotte, NC. They bought a brand new house w/ cathedral celings, 4 bedrooms, a backyard and 3-car garage for 300K.
My mother thought they were millionaires until she realized they paid less for their house than a studio apt in a bad part of NY costs.
many commentors seem to focus much on the ‘indianness’ of the accused and how ‘indian’ attitudes might have made them do this.
Now, the accused were from Indonesia. They are as much Indian as the desi immigrant/children of immigrants crown here. Just remember that, it is possible that one day your transgressions too (as opposed to the all-so-perfect rest ot the world) would be judged based on the background you share with India. Or, the shortcomings you so-so-happily attribute to Indians could very well be used against you, as well. In other words, you are just as Indian as the accused in this case – or not.
Some are happy that some rich folks got the short end of the stick this time.
Only when you all leave out the Indian part and the Rich part out of this, and just treat this as any other alleged crime, can these discussions be considered mature and worthy fo a second read. Till then, these are just reflections of people’s prejudices and inner frustrations.
One does not know all the facts, and tabloids are not a sure source of journalistic integrity. A good trial lawyer can prove and disprove anything infront of a jury. It’s pretty routine here in divorce cases to establish the daddy as the abuser of all children just so that mom can win custody and child-support. So till you hear an experienced attorney playing to the crowd, do not assume how fickle a thing truth could be in emotionally charged cases like this.
that almost EXACTLY describes the house we bought, ‘cept ours also had a never-used wet bar. 😀