Mahila police officers act as mediators for warring couples in MP

Officers of the Mahila Police station in Bhopal besides policing duties of nabbing criminals have taken up the role of marriage counsellors and are preventing warring couples from breaking up.

The Mahila Thana or the women police station receives maximum number of complaints from married women, who allege that they are harassed by their husband or in-laws for dowry, says Sandhya Sharma, town inspector of Bhopal Mahila Thana.

“Most women who come to us want to divorce their husbands citing harassment while lodging a complaint and this is where police officials play the role of marriage saviours by counselling them and making them understand the value of relationship and family,” she says.

Sharma says that they listen to the complainants and try to counsel the estranged couples not to separate.

“We investigate into the matter and try to make the couples understand the value of a strong relationship and family ties. We have been successful in most of the cases by settling the disputes in the station itself, saving their marriage by preventing them from getting separated,” Sharma tells Hindustan Times.

Sharma says there were many cases when complainants come to the police to lodge complaints of harassment after being together with their husband for years.

“There was once a complainant, who was married for more than 17 years with two children and she alleged that her husband did not let her to continue her job as he wanted her to take care of the children.

“The woman said that she wanted to separate from her husband and file for divorce so we called her and her husband to the police station and counselled them and now they are living happily together,” says Sharma.

“Though we are police officers, we too are human beings and understand how divorce can impact the lives of the family members of both the husband and wife.”

‘Children suffer the most due to conflict between their parents’

Sharma says that children are the one who suffer the most due to conflict between their parents so the Mahila police’s first priority is to ensure that the couples do not separate and the dispute is solved amicably.

Women who come to the police station with complaints against their husbands or in-laws are also happy that police officers are making efforts to save their marriage.

“I was harassed by my husband and was adamant to divorce him after being married to him for more than 5 years, says a woman, wishing anonymity. “I went to the Mahila Thana to lodge a complaint against my husband and police called my husband to the police station and spoke to him. After few counselling sessions by the police officers, our dispute was resolved and we are living happily together. We are thankful to the Mahila Thana police for saving our marriage,” she added.