NEW DELHI, Oct 12: A young man from an Other Backwards Classes (OBC) community was on Saturday allegedly forced to wash the feet of a Brahmin man and drink that water over a social media post in Damoh district in Madhya Pradesh.
The police have registered an FIR in the case but has not made any arrest.
The victim, identified as Purshottam Kushwaha, from Damoh’s Satariya village, allegedly posted on Instagram an Artificial Intelligence (AI) –generated image showing another villager, Annu Pandey, wearing a garland of shoes. The village falls under the jurisdiction of the Patera police station, about 45 kilometres from the district headquarters.
According to Superintendent of Police (SP) Shrut Kirti Somvanshi, Kushwaha deleted the post and publicly apologised after it went viral and sparked anger and tension in the area. The SP said a village panchayat was convened, and Kushwaha was forced to wash Annu Pandey’s feet and drink the same water. The panchayat also fined the victim ₹5,100. A video of the humiliating proceedings was shared on social media.
According to local officials, the victim did not lodge any formal complaint. Damoh Collector Sudhir Kumar Kocher told reporters that an FIR was registered against four men, including Pandey. Another video showed Kushwaha purportedly saying that he had apologised for the mistake he made, and did not want the incident to become a political issue.
The Congress and the BJP traded jibes over the incident in Damoh. While the opposition Congress condemned the incident as a “blot on humanity”, the ruling BJP accused it of “politicising every crime.”
“The Constitution has given every citizen of the country equal status. Such incidents against Dalits and backward communities are a disgrace to the entire nation and society and must be condemned in the strongest possible terms,” the Congress said on X. The party demanded strict action against the culprits and added that the country must run according to “Dr B R Ambedkar’s Constitution” and not the RSS and BJP’s “favoured Manuvad.”
State BJP media in-charge Ashish Agrawal accused the opposition party of politicising every crime, and asserted that the government led by chief minister Mohan Yadav takes prompt and strict action in every crime.
He added that an FIR was registered under section 196 (promoting enmity between different groups) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and the process of arresting the accused is underway.
(Manas Dasgupta)
