Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Other Hindu and Hindu-derived contexts Robbinsville, New Jersey, USA · 2021

BAPS Swaminarayan temple-construction workers' federal forced-labor suit: DOJ criminal probe closed without charges, civil case active

Record class

Context only

Evidence status

Active investigation

Authority role

Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) organizational leadership

Organization

Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS)

Spiritual nexus

The civil complaint alleges BAPS leadership used religious-organizational obedience and caste-linked recruitment networks in India to secure and control a captive workforce; this record documents only the alleged mechanism and the case's procedural posture, not an adjudicated finding, since the criminal probe closed without charges and the civil claims have not been tried or settled.

  • Institutional obedience or isolation
  • Religious marriage or family control

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2026-02-25 · civil case active; criminal investigation closed without charges

    U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey (civil); FBI/DOJ (criminal, closed). Six Indian men filed a federal civil suit in May 2021 under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act alleging BAPS forced them to work up to 87-hour weeks for roughly $1.20/hour building temples, confined to a guarded compound; the suit was later amended to add temple-construction sites in California, Illinois, Texas, and Georgia. The FBI raided the Robbinsville temple in 2021. In September 2025 the DOJ closed its criminal investigation without filing charges. The civil case continued; on 2026-02-25 the parties stipulated to a court-ordered injunction protecting plaintiffs and class members from retaliation, indicating the litigation remains active and unresolved on the merits as of this record.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • alleged use of caste-linked recruitment of Dalit and Adivasi workers from India, confinement to a guarded compound, and religious/organizational obedience structures, per the civil complaint's allegations

Primary record

Sources

reliable contemporaneous press civil complaint report 'Robbinsville, New Jersey: Lawsuit claims BAPS Hindu temple was built on forced labor', CNN (2021).

Reports the original May 2021 federal lawsuit's allegations of forced labor, confinement, and sub-minimum wages at the Robbinsville temple construction site.

reliable contemporaneous press investigation closure report 'DOJ drops forced labor case against largest Hindu temple in America', Religion News Service (2025).

Reports the DOJ's September 2025 closure of its criminal forced-labor investigation into BAPS without charges.

reliable contemporaneous press civil case status report 'DOJ closes BAPS probe; Robbinsville temple case resumes', Robbinsville Advance / communitynews.org (2026).

Reports the February 2026 court-ordered anti-retaliation stipulation confirming the civil case remains active following the DOJ's criminal closure.

Related record

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