The following are our suggestions regarding this issue, to prevent innocents from
being harassed while delivering justice to true victims.

1.  Stringent punishments for abusers of law – Punishment for misusing this strict law should be equally stringent. Severe penalties must be imposed on all the complainants for false complaint under this law.

2.  The law should be made bailable compoundable and  non cognizable, as has been recommended by multiple judges
a.  ‘The Malimath Committee’ on Reforms of Criminal Justice System, 2003 (Refer
Para 16.4 Report)
b.  Delhi High Court Judgement R 462/2002, 19.05.2003, Savitri Devi Vs. Ramesh
Chand and Ors.

3.  Time bound Trial should be made a statutory requirement. It is suggested
that a 6 month maximum limit should be specified by the Law.

4.  No Arrests unless absolutely necessary - An arrest on a criminal charge
has grave consequences - social, mental and financial, for the individual. Unless
there is irrefutable evidence to suggest physical torture, no arrests should be made.

5.  The final decision of arrest should be taken by an Authority not less than the
Superintendent of Police of the District who too should have general instructions to
apply his mind judiciously in each individual case on its merits and then pass
suitable order(s) in writing.

6.  Exclude arrests of Senior citizens, minors (children below the age of 18),
pregnant women and people requiring medical attention.

7.  No provision for including extended family members in the
complaint without prima facie evidence.

8.  A thorough Investigation shoud be conducted and the accused
should not be presumed guilty - The cardinal principle of criminal liability
which is in vogue and prevalent the world over all through. The accused must be
presumed to be innocent unless proved guilty by the cogent and reliable evidence
beyond all reasonable and probable doubts.

9.  Gender Neutrality – All laws should endeavor to punish the guilty and protect
the innocent, irrespective of the gender. We stress that the gender specific words
like “husband” and “wife” be replaced by gender-neutral words like “spouse”.

10.  Mechanism for post-implementation evaluation - Section 498A IPC
was enacted in 1983 i.e. 23 years ago. No post-implementation feedback is available
with the government to show whether the Section 498A IPC has in fact been
successful in its proposed intent.