Indian Origin Couple Arrested for “Keeping Man as a Slave” for Four Years

By Little India Desk | November 5, 2018

An Indian origin couple has been arrested for allegedly keeping a man as a slave in their garden shed for four years.

According to an official report, Palvinder, 54, and Pritpal Binning, 56, have been accused of forcing a Polish builder as a slave in exchange for food.

The couple, arrested by the Gangmasters and Labor Abuse Authority (GLAA) on Oct.30, is accused of turning the person from Poland into a victim of “modern slavery.”

ICYMI: Earlier this week we arrested a man and woman on suspicion of modern slavery offences near Southampton after a potential victim claimed he had lived in a concrete shed for the last four years pic.twitter.com/RiAnw81pgE

— GLAA (@UK_Glaa) November 2, 2018

According to the GLAA officers, a frail Polish man came at a walk-in-center and informed the staff about his conditions. He told the officers that he had been sleeping under the shed at the bottom of the garden and “was given out of date food to eat.” He also said that he had no flushing toilet and that his kitchen was a fridge and barbecue.

The report notes that the victim, in his 40’s has been accepted into the UK government’s National Referral Mechanism, a procedure which helps and supports the victims of modern slavery and human trafficking.

Pritpal Binning, known as a former Southampton University health sciences lecturer along with her husband Palvinder, who works for U.S.-based IT firm BMC Software, own a luxurious five-bedroom property situated at Chilworth, near Southampton, but the victim was only given a plastic sun lounger to sleep on, Daily Mail reported.

A female neighbor in her 70’s has claimed seeing the man around along with other men after the renovation of the Binning’s property started. She stated, ‘The most recent building started about October last year when they had some scaffolding put up which came about 3ft onto my land, so I rang Palvinder about it.”

“They have had quite a few eastern European men doing building work around the property and I initially thought that this man I kept seeing was one of them.”

‘I would see him more than the other workers, I would see him walking along the road outside the house.”

‘I believe Pritpal runs a wedding business as well and she has a lot of wedding paraphernalia, which she had been keeping in a neighbor’s garage.

‘But when that property was sold, she had to move it all back to her house. I saw this man, who was about 40, moving it all for her,” the publication quoted the neighbor as saying.

The couple, who were arrested following the raid and reportedly released later, is under investigation currently pending further inquiries. The property has been searched thoroughly for the undergoing probe and evidence were seized which may prove critical to the investigation, the GLAA official report notes.

GLAA Senior Investigating Officer Tony Byrne said, “In the 21st century, no-one should be forced to live in such degrading and disgusting conditions.”

“Following the two arrests we made, our investigation is ongoing as we examine and assess the evidence we collected from the property.”

Test Valley District Commander Chief Inspector Kory Thorne said, “Instances of modern-day slavery in the Test Valley are rare. However, when information is received suggesting someone is being subjected to modern-day slavery, we will work with partner agencies to investigate and where necessary take action against those people responsible.”