Patna: Noorsarai police in Nalanda district on Friday registered an FIR against a mukhiya and eight others for allegedly forcing a man to lick his own spit off the floor for entering a neighbour's house without knocking on the door.

The incident occurred at Ajnaura village, around 14km south of the Noorsarai block headquarters town and around 75km southeast of Patna. The police took action after one of the mukhiya's associates uploaded on the Internet a video clip of the "punishment" at the panchayat meeting held on Thursday.

Nalanda superintendent of police (SP) Sudhir Kumar Porika said a case was lodged on Thursday against the mukhiya (panchayat chief) of Ajaypur panchayat Dayanand Manjhi and his associates for forcing the "punishment" on Mahesh Thakur, 54, who is a barber. Several women also allegedly beat up Mahesh with slippers on the mukhiya's directive for entering sarpanch (legal adviser to the mukhiya) Surendra Yadav's house.

"The guilty will not be spared," the SP told The Telegraph over phone from Biharsharif, the district headquarters of Nalanda. "I have already ordered an investigation into the incident."

The accused have been booked under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapons), 149 (unlawful assembly), 223 (escape from confinement), 352 (wrongful confinement), 500 (defamation), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 379 (theft) of the IPC. Few of the sections are non-bailable.

"Though Mahesh apologised in public for the mistake, the mukhiya made him spit and lick his saliva off the ground," said a resident.

Mahesh said he had gone to Surendra's house to borrow khaini (tobacco). He threatened to commit suicide if the guilty are not punished.

"The incident has brought immense disrepute to my family," he said. "It will certainly affect my daughter's wedding. A group of women assaulted me with slippers in public on the panchayat's order. It will not be easy for anybody to forget such humiliation."

Nalanda district magistrate Thiyagrajan S.M. said Surendra had alleged that Mahesh had entered his house at night on the pretext of borrowing khaini when no male member was present in the house. A detailed report has been sought on the matter within two days, he added.

The incident later took on political overtones. A senior BJP leader, Nand Kishore Yadav, said the culprits would be dealt with sternly, while Bhai Birendra of the RJD said such an incident exposed that there was no rule of law in Bihar.

"The shocking incident took place in chief minister's Nitish Kumar's native district," the RJD MLA from Maner said.