Four men have been booked in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh for allegedly publicly humiliating a man by forcing him to wash the feet of a Brahmin man and drink the water over sharing an “offensive AI-generated image” of the latter, officers said on Sunday (October 12, 2025).
According to the police, the incident took place on the evening of October 10 on the premises of a temple in Satariya village under Patera police station limits, where Purushottam Kushwaha was forced to wash the feet of Anuj Pandey “to apologise for sharing an AI-edited picture of him wearing a shoe garland”.
Damoh Superintendent of Police, Shrut Kirti Somvanshi told The Hindu that Mr. Pandey and three of his relatives have been booked under Sections 296, 196(1) (b) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and a probe has been launched.
A video of the alleged incident has also appeared on social media showing Mr. Kushwaha, surrounded by locals who were instructing him to perform the act and apologise, washing a man’s feet.
As per the first information report (FIR), Mr. Kushwaha and Mr. Pandey had been involved in an argument on October 6, after the latter opposed a decision by locals to prohibit the sale and consumption of liquor in the village.
After the argument, Mr. Kushwaha shared the “objectionable” picture on social media due to which the locals gathered in the temple and forced him to apologise to Mr. Pandey and the Brahmin community, the complainant has alleged in the FIR. A penalty of ₹5,100 was also imposed on Mr. Kushwaha.
The Opposition Congress has slammed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the incident, terming it “a disgrace to humanity”.
“Purushottam Kushwaha was threatened and forced to declare that he would worship Brahmins for the rest of his life. This incident is a disgrace to humanity. It is against the country’s Constitution. The Constitution grants equal status to every citizen of the country. Such incidents happening with Dalits and Backward Classes are a blot on the entire country and society,” the Congress said on X, while asking the BJP government to take strict action in the matter and set an example.
“The BJP government should take the strictest possible action against the criminals involved in this incident, so that a clear message goes out that there is no place for such incidents in society. This country will be governed by Babasaheb’s Constitution, not by the Manuvaad favored by RSS-BJP,” it added.
Published – October 12, 2025 10:13 pm IST
