Indian man sentenced by US court for treating wife as slave
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An Indian man, who had been convicted of sexually abusing his wife and treating her like a slave, will not go to prison for his crimes but has been sentenced to three years' probation and ordered to do over 200 hours of community service.
Vishal Jagota, 34, would also have to pay a fine of USD 1,000 and has been ordered under a permanent order of protection to stay away from his 25-year-old wife, who came to the US after an arranged marriage with Jagota but was subject to sexual and physical abuse by her in-laws.
Judge William Nelson of Rockland County near here decided against sending Jagota to prison on his sentencing yesterday but admonished Jagota as he ordered him to serve three years' probation and 220 hours of community service for third-degree assault.
The wife had been brutalized for three years after she came to the US by other family members including her mother-in-law and sister-in-law.
Judge Nelson also convicted Jagota's mother, Parveen, 57, and sister Rajani, 31, of the more serious crime of labour trafficking, as well as second-degree assault.
Parveen is accused of burning her daughter-in-law with a hot iron as punishment for poor work. She and her daughter face a maximum of seven years in prison when sentenced next month.
Jagota's father, Aman Jagota, 62, was acquitted of labour trafficking as well as sexual-abuse counts. Prosecutors had wanted a 60 days sentence for Jagota, who once even bit his wife on the cheek and let his mother and sister treat her like a servant.
"He (Vishal Jagota) knew exactly what was going (on) in that household," the prosecution said.
"He was an abuser. He should have stopped what the father, the mother and the sister (were) doing to the victim.
He turned his head on his wife. He didn't want to be bothered." In her testimony, the woman told Nelson that her in-laws and husband used intimidation, physical and sexual abuse, and manipulation to force her to work as a round-the-clock servant, performing household chores and other tasks.
She testified that her movements were restricted and her passport was confiscated by Jagota's mother and sister.
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