Discussing the salient features of the act at a seminar ‘Violence-free home is the basis of violence-free world’ organised by the Faculty of Social Work of M S University and Sahiyar, a women’s rights organisation, Mehta said, “Sensitisation is the most important thing when it comes to the implementation of the act.”

However, Mehta and other legal experts opined that even if some people misuse the act, the judiciary is independent and strong enough to take care of such acts.

Highlighting the purposes that the act serves, Nupur Sinha, an advocate with the Centre for Social Justice, Ahmedabad, said, “Unlike other laws, this act is not just about punishment, but it also has provisions wherein, with proper counselling, domestic disputes can be sorted out.” She added that the act follows a structure in which the judgment can be delivered in three days.

Poonam Kathuria of Society for Women’s Action And Training Initiative (SWATI) said that Andhra Pradesh serves a good example in its implementation.

“The state provides protection officers specifically for the affected unlike most other states where the protection is taken as an additional charge,” said Kathuria. She added that additional charge in such cases adds to the problem, especially during the time of lodging Direct Information Report (DIR), as sometimes the victims find it difficult to talk to male officers. She went on to say that although the Gujarat government is a service provider to the act, its implementation shows the difference between facts and what is there on paper.

Protection officer I.P. Chowdhury also felt that its implementation has lot of problems and said that most of the time they are overburdened.

Interestingly, during an interactive session, a representative of Anandi, an organisation fighting for gender justice, found that one of the judges in Panchmahals district was not aware about the Act.