On 17th September, an Employment Tribunal awarded £184,000 in unpaid wages to an Indian woman of low caste kept in domestic servitude by her UK employers for 4 ½ years.
Ms Tirkey was recruited from one of India’s poorest states as her employers wanted someone of a low caste who would be ‘…not merely of service but servile’. Caste is a hereditary division rooted in Hindu society, based on factors such as wealth, rank or occupation.