A man in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh district was allegedly forced to wash the feet of a Brahmin man and drink the water as an apology for posting an “offensive” artificial intelligence-generated image of him on social media, The Hindu reported on Sunday.

Four persons have been booked in the case.

According to the first information report, on October 6, Purushottam Kushwaha had an argument with Anuj Pandey, who is from the Brahmin community, for opposing a decision taken by the residents of Satariya village to prohibit the sale and consumption of liquor, the newspaper reported.

After the argument, Kushwaha allegedly posted an artificial intelligence-generated image of Pandey wearing a garland of shoes on social media, The Indian Express reported.

He deleted the post within 15 minutes and issued an apology. However, the image reportedly sparked outrage in the village.

On Friday, Kushwaha was allegedly taken to a temple in the village and forced to wash Pandey’s feet “to apologise for sharing an AI-edited picture of him wearing a shoe garland,” police officers told The Hindu.

He was also made to apologise to Pandey and the Brahmin community, and a penalty of Rs 5,100 was imposed.

A purported video of the incident was also circulated widely on social media, showing Kushwaha washing Pandey’s feet, The Indian Express reported.

In the video, Kushwaha is heard saying: “I am apologising to the Brahmin community. Such a mistake will not happen again. We will keep worshipping the Brahmins like this.”

Damoh Superintendent of Police Shrut Kirti Somvanshi told The Hindu that Pandey and three relatives have been booked under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita related to obscene acts, promoting enmity between groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language among others and criminal acts committed by several persons with a common intention.

Pandey told The Indian Express that he and Kushwaha shared a “guru-shishya [teacher-disciple] relationship” and that Kushwaha washed his feet voluntarily, The Indian Express reported.

“He apologised for the mistake he made,” the newspaper quoted him as sayng. “I apologise to the Kushwaha community if they feel hurt because he washed my feet.” He also claimed the video was “being made into a political issue by people from the OBC [Other Backward Classes] background.”

The Congress criticised the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the state over the incident, describing it “a disgrace to humanity”. “Purushottam Kushwaha was threatened and forced to declare that he would worship Brahmins for the rest of his life,” the party said. “This incident is a disgrace to humanity. It is against the Constitution.”

It asked the BJP government in the state to take strict action in the matter and set an example.

“This country will be governed by Babasaheb [Ambedkar]’s Constitution, not by the Manuvaad [political philosophy based on the Manusmriti] favoured by RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]-BJP,” it added.

The Manusmriti is a Hindu text authored by an ascetic named Manu. It has been widely criticised for its gender and caste-based codes. The RSS is the parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.