Indian American doctor struck off register over human trafficking

THE medical license of an Indian American physician has been permanently revoked for illegally recruiting and harbouring two Indian women to be household servants for low pay.

Dr Harsha Sahni, who maintained a rheumatology practice in Colonia, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to conceal and harbour aliens and filing a false tax return last February.

She is scheduled to begin serving a 27-month prison sentence handed down by a federal court judge in October 2024, Attorney General Matthew J Platkin and the Division of Consumer Affairs announced on Wednesday (8).

Sahni had been temporarily suspended from the practice of medicine since September 2023, as the State pursued an administrative action to revoke her license in the wake of her criminal plea.

“The revocation announced brings closure to a disturbing case in which a physician sworn to uphold the highest standards of care and compassion exploited and abused vulnerable victims for her own financial gain,” Attorney General Platkin said.

“There is no place in the medical profession for this kind of criminal conduct and utter disregard for humanity.”

“Dr Sahni’s treatment of the women she illegally harboured as cheap labour for her and her family violated the most basic rules of the medical profession and caused her victims unimaginable suffering,” said Cari Fais, Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs.

“Only the permanent revocation of her medical license could adequately protect New Jersey and its residents from the dangers she posed as a practising physician."

Sahni had pleaded guilty to the charges last February. In her guilty pleas, she said that she knew the women — identified in filed documents as victim 1 and victim 2 — who were in the country illegally and that she harboured them for financial gain and caused them both to believe that they would be arrested and deported if they interacted with law enforcement.

Sahni admitted she provided the victims food, clothing, and housing and harboured them to work as housekeepers at a price less than what she would have had to pay housekeepers had she employed them legally.

She further admitted to instructing the women to tell immigration officials that they were members of her family and in the US for tourism, knowing that was not true.

And despite the fact that the women were household employees, Sahni admitted in court that she did not pay taxes related to their labour and did not disclose the labour performed by the victims on her personal income tax return, the press statement said.

In a verified complaint and other documents filed with the Board, the State alleged that Sahni required victim 1, who resided in the doctor’s home, to work from approximately 7 am to 10 pm for roughly $240 to $600 a month (£190 to £475 per month), which Sahni paid to victim 1’s family in India.

(PTI)