SITUATION IN GUJARAT
essential to heal the wounds and look to a future of peace and harmony, the
Commission emphasised that the pursuit of these high ideals must be based on justice
and the upholding of the values of the Constitution and the laws of the land. The
Commission remained deeply disturbed, in this connection, by persisting press
reports stating that charge-sheets filed thus far in respect of certain grave incidents
lacked credibility in as much as they were reported to depict the victims of violence as
the provocateurs; that FIRs were neither promptly nor accurately recorded in respect
of atrocities against women, including acts of rape; that compensation for deimaged
property was often set at unreasonably low amounts; that pressure was being put on
certain of the victims to the effect that they could return to their homes only if they
dropped or altered the cases they had lodged; while yet others were being pressured
to leave the relief camps even though they were unwilling to do so in the absence of
viable alternatives.
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002
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