A minister in the southern Indian state of Kerala recently took to Facebook to complain about fat shaming.

In a Malayalam-language post, Education Minister V Sivankutty gave his own example of being body shamed.

He wrote that a few days back, when he shared a picture of some students taking a selfie with him, a person commented that "you should reduce your stomach a little bit".

In his reply to the comment, the minister called body shaming "a heinous practice".

"Body shaming is the worst, no matter what the explanation. This is happening in our society on so many levels. There are many among us who have been victims of body shaming and even suffered mentally," he wrote.

"We need to end body shaming. Let's be modern people," he added.

Mr Sivankutty said the incident got him thinking about how toxic body shaming could be and added that "the state government will create awareness among students and teachers, and consider making it part of the school curriculum".

The minister's comments and a recent Bollywood film, Double XL, have put the spotlight on fat shaming in India where people are routinely insulted for their physical appearance.

The film starred popular actresses Huma Qureshi and Sonakshi Sinha who have both talked about being body shamed in the past. Sinha was trolled on social media for her weight and, in her early days, Qureshi was written off by critics who believed "she was 5kg too heavy to be a heroine".

Director Satramm Ramani told the BBC that his film was about "two plus-size women who find that weight is an obstacle in the way of their dreams and how they overcome them".