For commuters, the 10-second FM jingle often brings a smile in the rush-hour traffic. But for many families, it is an assurance — of the Delhi Police at work trying to save troubled marriages by lending a patient ear.

Take the case of Phool Kumari, in her late 40s, who agreed to “amicably” divorce her husband in just the second hearing at the mediation cell on July 2. In return, she got Rs 2.83 lakh, her almirah and a trunk.

Started in November 2008, the Nanakpura Mediation Cell — so far the only specialised mediation centre for the Delhi Police in the national Capital — has an impressive team of 35 counsellors from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and 30 professionals each from Jamia Millia Islamia and the National Institute of Public Corporation and Child Development at work.

“Besides, we have 15 mediators, of which two are retired High Court judges settled in Delhi and one is a former Indian Foreign Services Officer,” Sudhir Yadav, Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime (Women) Cell, told Newsline.

Yadav, in charge of the Delhi Police’s maiden venture, said settling the cases of dowry harassment and domestic violence through counselling is the “new mantra” of the police force.

The Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee too, pitches in with expert advice.

Advocate Meera Bhatia, a qualified mediator and conciliator with the Delhi High Court, underlines the importance of the police effort: “If the police file an FIR on a dowry harassment or domestic violence case, the complainant has no choice but to go to court and waste hours in litigation and paper work. Mediation avoids all this.”

Around 100 police personnel across Delhi have received training in counselling at the TISS, says Yadav. The Delhi Police pays its mediators Rs 1,000 for a hearing and Rs 2,500 once a case is decided. The Nanakpura cell has received only 232 cases since it started in November 2008.

The numbers might seem low when compared to the 11,953 cases referred to the Delhi Mediation Centre in Tis Hazari and 5,993 cases and 779 cases in Karkardooma and Rohini respectively (see box). But these centres have been functioning for long. Plus, the Tis Hazari centre functions with the district judge-in-charge and 15 additional sessions judges together with a 52 advocates acting as mediators.

Though only 54 cases (30 per cent of the 232 cases received) have been settled and 31 are still pending decision, Yadav is not deterred. “Given the fact that reconciliation has already been attempted for all cases that come, the success rate — or settlement — of 30 per cent cases is a good achievement,” he says.

On an average, at Nanakpura, four to six cases are fixed for mediation every day. Mediation is held regularly, six days a week. The cases are generally decided in less than three to six hearings. Only in exceptional cases, seven or more meetings are held.