An Indian magistrate trying to promote cleanliness is under fire after telling a man to “sell his wife” if he can’t afford to pay for a toilet in his house.

Kanwal Tanuj, a magistrate from the district of Bihar, made the comments during an event in Jamhor Block last Friday, which was aimed at promoting the country's nationwide cleanliness campaign.

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The Clean India Mission (Swachh Bharat Abhiyan) is a scheme launched by the Indian government which is aiming to raise the standards of cleanliness in cities and towns across the country.

The Indian Express reported that Tanuj opened his speech by calling on the crowd to obey the campaign’s sanitation standards in order to safeguard the dignity of women.

#WATCH Aurangabad's DM Kanwal Tanuj says, " go sell your wife" to a person while addressing a public gathering on cleanliness (22.07) #Biharpic.twitter.com/kqkQpVdC1q — ANI (@ANI_news) July 23, 2017

“Save the dignity of your women if you can. How poor are you?” he said.

But when a member of the crowd said he could not afford to pay for a toilet in his home, Tanuj responded: “If that is the case then go and sell your wife.”

“If this is the mentality you have then go and sell your wife. So many people talk about advance payment, they get advance and then spend it on useless things,” he continued.

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He said that if people have money to spend on liquor and tobacco, then they should be able to build a toilet.

The speech has since gone viral on social media. However the district magistrate has since claimed that the widely-viewed clip gave a “distorted version” of his speech.

“It's a distorted version of my speech that is being highlighted. The entire speech was an appeal to the men about the respect of ladies and not about showing disrespect,” he said.