54-year-old Barber who was allegedly made to spit and lick his saliva and beaten with slippers by women in a village in Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s home district of Biharsharif.

The barber Mahesh Thakur’s fault was that he had entered the house of the sarpanch of Ajaypur panchayat Surendra Yadav Wednesday evening when no male members were at home. He claims that he was unaware that only female members were home at that time.

The infuriated sarpanch convened a meeting of the panchayat on Thursday to decide on a punishment for the barber for his ‘audacity’.

He said a panchayat was called a day later and the punishment was pronounced for beating him with slippers by the women.

The DM said that Biharsharif sub-divisional officer (SDO) Sudhir Kumar had been asked to visit the spot and gather details about the turn of events. “The victim has confirmed the incident.

A thorough inquiry has been ordered and action will be taken on the report received,” he added.Police have named eight people, including a sarpanch in an FIR on Friday.

The punishment handed out to Thakur has been widely condemned on social media.

“How could a human being behave like this with a fellow human being over such small matters,” said one.

Another one tried to malign the entire state with an isolated incident, tweeting: “Quite common in Bihar”.