Man made to wash Brahmin's feet over AI-generated image in MP; FIR registered

An FIR was registered in Madhya Pradesh's Damoh district on Sunday after a young man was allegedly forced to wash the feet of a Brahmin person and drink that water for sharing an “objectionable” AI-generated image, police said.

The incident took place on Saturday at Satariya village under the jurisdiction of Patera police station, 45 km off the district headquarters, police said.

Purshottam Kushwaha, who belongs to an OBC community,  allegedly posted on Instagram an Artificial Intelligence-generated image showing another villager, Annu Pandey, wearing a garland of shoes, officials said.

After the post went viral and sparked anger and tension in the area, Kushwaha deleted the post and publicly apologised, said Superintendent of Police Shrut Kirti Somvanshi.

A village panchayat was convened and Kushwaha was forced to wash Pandey's feet and drink the same water, the SP said. The panchayat also imposed a fine of Rs 5,100 on him. A video of the humiliating proceedings was shared on social media.

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 victim has not lodged any formal complaint yet, local officials said. A First Information Report was registered against four men including Pandey, Damoh Collector Sudhir Kumar Kocher told reporters.

The Congress condemned the incident as a "blot on humanity".

"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 party said on X.

It demanded strict action against the culprits and added that the country must run according to "Dr B R Ambedkar's Constitution" and not the "favoured Manuvad" of the RSS and BJP.

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.

A First Information Report was registered under section 196 (promoting enmity between different groups) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and the "process of arresting the accused is underway," he added.