Police in Madhya Pradesh have begun investigating an alleged incident of caste-based humiliation in Damoh district, where a young man was allegedly forced to wash another man’s feet and publicly apologise to the Brahmin community after posting an AI-generated image on social media.
Purushottam Kushwaha, a resident of Sataria village, posted an AI-generated image on Instagram showing a man wearing a garland of shoes. The man, Anuj Pandey, is from the Brahmin community and has been accused of violating the village’s collective decision to enforce a ban on the sale of alcohol.
Kushwaha deleted the post within 15 minutes and apologised, but it sparked outrage in the village.
In a video that has since gone viral on social media, Kushwaha can be seen washing Pandey’s feet. “I am apologising to the Brahmin community. Such a mistake will not happen again. We will keep worshipping the Brahmins like this,” he is heard saying in the video.
Damoh Superintendent of Police Abhishek Tiwari said police have taken cognisance of the viral video and registered an FIR. “To maintain law and order, preventive action is being taken against both parties involved. Police teams are continuously patrolling the area,” Tiwari said in a statement.
He said senior officials and prominent citizens have been engaged in dialogue to maintain peace in the area. The Patera police station in-charge has been directed to take necessary legal action, and evidence is being collected, he said.
The chain of events began with Sataria village’s collective decision to enforce a liquor ban. Pandey was accused of selling alcohol in violation of this ban, after which the village panchayat ordered him to publicly apologise by going around the village. He was also told to pay a fine of Rs 2,100.
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It was in this context that Kushwaha created and posted the AI-generated image mocking Pandey. When the post came to light, tensions flared. Pandey allegedly verbally abused him and his family.
What followed transformed a personal quarrel into a communal confrontation. Members of the Brahmin community from Sataria and surrounding villages gathered, framing the social media post as an insult not just to Pandey but to their entire community.
Pandey has since claimed that he and Kushwaha share a “guru-shishya relationship” and that Kushwaha washed his feet voluntarily. “He apologised for the mistake he made. I apologise to the Kushwaha community if they feel hurt because he washed my feet,” Pandey said, adding that he believes the video is “being made into a political issue by people from the OBC background”.
Khushwaha and his family have expressed a reluctance to speak on the matter or file a formal complaint, citing fear of reprisal.
