An elderly man was forced to spit and lick his own saliva for entering a village official’s house without knocking the door first.
For the same ‘offence’, he was also beaten with slippers several times by women.

The incident took place at Ajaipur village of Nalanda district in Bihar, India, on October 18.

Mahesh Thakur, 54, who runs a barber’s shop, had gone to the village official Surendra Yadav’s house to borrow tobacco, say officials.

He reportedly entered the door without knocking the door and waiting to be called in.

The act reportedly infuriated Yadav, who was upset that Thakur had entered his home when there was no male member inside.

He summoned a meeting of village elders on Thursday afternoon, who ordered Thakur to be beaten up with slippers by several women for his transgression. They also ordered him to spit and lick his saliva off the ground as an act of atonement.

The victim accepted his punishment fearing a social boycott and confessed that he had committed an impropriety by entering the house without permission.

After a video of the incident went viral drawing media coverage Bihar government District Magistrate Thiagarajan ordered an enquiry into the incident and despatched a senior official to the village to conduct it.

Minister Nand Kishore Yadav said: "Such incidents will not be tolerated. We will take strict action against the culprits."