NEW DELHI: A video of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama kissing a minor boy on the lips and asking him to ‘suck his tongue’ has sparked an outcry. In the video going viral on social media, the Dalai Lama is seen kissing on the boy’s lips when he leaned in to pay respects to him.

The spiritual leader sticked his tongue out as he asked the boy to suck it. After the video went viral, it evoked angry reactions. Many people questioned the behavior of the Dalai Lama towards the child and demanded legal action. "What am I seeing? Is this Dalai Lama? Needs to be arrested for pedophilia. Disgusting," tweeted a user.

Last month, the Dalai Lama had named a US-born Mongolian boy as the 10th Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa Rinpoche, the third highest rank in Tibetan Buddhism. This move without informing China became controversial.

The Dalai Lama who took political asylum in India had attracted criticism due to his behaviour earlier. In 2019, the Dalai Lama had sparked a huge controversy for saying that if his successor were to be a woman, she should have to be "attractive". He said this in an interview with a British broadcaster aired in 2019. He later apologized for his controversial comments.