Legislation should specifically preclude police and legal system officials from offering mediation or assisted alternative dispute resolution services to parties, both before and during legal proceedings in domestic and dowry-related violence cases. Police and judges should not attempt to improve relations in the family by offering these services or by mediating a dispute. (See: UN Handbook 3.9.1 and section on Duties of police officers). Also, mediation, counseling and alternative dispute resolution should never be a prerequisite to legal proceedings where domestic violence or dowry-related violence is involved.
Mediation reflects an assumption that both parties are equally at fault for the violence. It assumes that both parties have equal bargaining power, yet in reality an abuser may hold tremendous power over a victim. Mediation also removes a domestic or dowry-related violence case from public view and objective judicial scrutiny. (See: Mediation, StopVAW, The Advocates for Human Rights; and Family Violence: A Model State Code, Sec. 311)