In one of the most bizarre and inhuman incidents that has come to light during the 21-day lockdown announced by PM Narendra Modi, Musahars – a Dalit community living in the eastern Gangetic plains – has been pushed to eat grass to ease hunger pangs in PM’s constituency, Varanasi.

According to media reports and documents accessed by National Herald, news of Musahars eating grass was first published in Jan Sandesh Times last Wednesday, following which the local administration rushed to provide food and help to the starving community.

However, instead of appreciating the media’s role for highlighting the community’s plight, the administration slapped a notice “for defaming the Musahar community” on Vijay Vineet, author of the story and Subhash Rai, editor of the newspaper.