22 i SITUATION IN GUJARAT 3.10 A 'Preliminary Report' dated 8 March 2002 was received by the Commission from the Government of Gujarat on 11 March 2002. However, it was perfunctory in character. In the meantime, the Commission had received a fairly detailed report on the situation from its Special Group in Gujarat, comprising its Special Representative, Shri P.G.J. Nampoothri, former Director General of Police, Gujarat; Smt. Annie Prasad, IAS (Retd.) and Shri Gagan Sethi, Director, Jan Vikas, an NGO in Ahmedabad. With violence continuing, it was in such circumstances that the Commission decided that the Chairperson should lead a team of the Commission on a mission to Gujarat between 19 - 22 March 2002. And it was pursuant to this that the detailed report of the State of Gujarat was received on 28 March 2002, in response to the Commission's notice of 1March 2002 and the discussions held with the team. 3.11 Having considered that report of the State of Gujarat carefully, the Commission, in its Proceedings of 1 April 2002, made a series of Preliminary Comments and Recommendations on the situation in that State. The Commission also directed that a copy of those Proceedings, together with a copy of the Confidential Report of the team of the Commission that visited Gujarat from 19 - 22 March 2002, be sent by the Secretary-General to the Chief Secretary, Government of Gujarat and to the Home Secretary, Government of India, requesting them to send the response/comments of the State Government and the Government of India within two weeks. As a visit of the Hon'ble Prime Minister to Gujarat had been announced for 4 April 2002, the Chairperson was also requested to send a copy of the Proceedings and of the Confidential Report to him. 3.12 Given the gravity of the human rights issues arising out of the situation in Gujarat, the Proceedings of the Commission dated 1 April 2002 and 31 May 2002 are attached to this report as Annexures 2 and 3. Though these Proceedings were recorded after the completion of the year under review, the Commission has considered it appropriate to annex them to the present report in order to provide, readily, an up-todate account of the views of the Commission on this important matter, on which it had initiated suo motu action on 1March 2002. 3.13 As of the time of writing this report, the Commission had concluded that, in its opinion, there could be no doubt that there had been a comprehensive failure on the part of the State Government to control the persistent violation of the rights to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the people of that State. The Commission noted that there had been a decline in incidents of violence in recent weeks and that certain positive developments had taken place. However, while recognising that it was NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION