{"id":247419,"date":"2021-05-12T06:42:24","date_gmt":"2021-05-12T03:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/indian-workers-held-captive-and-forced-to-build-nj-temple-lawsuit\/"},"modified":"2021-05-12T06:42:24","modified_gmt":"2021-05-12T03:42:24","slug":"indian-workers-held-captive-and-forced-to-build-nj-temple-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/indian-workers-held-captive-and-forced-to-build-nj-temple-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"#Indian workers held captive and forced to build NJ temple: lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Indian workers held captive and forced to build NJ temple: lawsuit<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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Hundreds of workers from India were allegedly lured to New Jersey and forced to work for just a few dollars a day to help build a massive Hindu temple, according to a lawsuit on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The federal suit, brought by the laborers, accuses the prominent Hindu sect known as Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, of human trafficking and wage law violations.<\/p>\n

The global organization is accused of bringing more than 200 low-caste men from India to the US by claiming they were religious volunteers.<\/p>\n

\"The
The entrance to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville, NJ.<\/figcaption>
AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When they arrived to the Garden State, the workers \u2014 many or all of whom don\u2019t speak English \u2014 allegedly had their passports confiscated. <\/p>\n

They were forced to work at the temple from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. for around $1.20 per hour, the court documents allege. Of that, the workers allegedly only received $50 in cash per month, with the rest deposited into their accounts in India.<\/p>\n

Known as a mandir, the ornate temple, made out of Italian and Indian marble, sits on a 162 acre in Robbinsville, near Trenton.<\/p>\n

\"A
A large crane stands over the under construction BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir near Trenton. <\/figcaption>
AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to the lawsuit, the exploited workers were kept in a fenced-in compound on the property monitored by cameras and guards. <\/p>\n

They were told that if they tried to leave, police would arrest them because they didn\u2019t have their passports, the suit alleges.<\/p>\n

An attorney representing several of the workers, Daniel Werner, called it \u201cshocking that this happ<\/a>ens in our backyard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is even more disturbing that it has gone on for years in New Jersey behind the temple\u2019s walls,\u201d Werner said.<\/p>\n

\"People
People stand near the entrance to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir.<\/figcaption>
AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some of the workers had been on the site for years and were not allowed to leave unless accompanied by somebody from BAPS, the attorney said.<\/p>\n

FBI agents descended on the sprawling compound on Tuesday on \u201ccourt-authorized law enforcement activity,\u201d\u00a0an agency spokesperson said, without elaborating. <\/p>\n

A spokesperson for BAPS told the Associated Press that the organization was first made aware of the accusations early Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are taking them very seriously and thoroughly reviewing the issues raised,\u201d Matthew Frankel said.<\/p>\n

The suit seeks unpaid wages and unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.<\/p>\n

With Post wires<\/em>\n <\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Indian workers held captive and forced to build NJ temple: lawsuit” Hundreds of workers from India were allegedly lured to New Jersey and forced to work for just a few dollars a day to help build a massive Hindu temple, according to a lawsuit on Tuesday. The federal suit, brought by the laborers, accuses the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":247420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/hiindu-temple-trafficking-index.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[105323,78343,20454,17318,70446,28264],"class_list":["post-247419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-5-11-21","tag-hinduism","tag-human-trafficking","tag-india","tag-lawsuits","tag-new-jersey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}