Saas-bahu sagas on television may be snapping up the target rating points but their fights in real life aren’t dragging on for long.

The women’s helpline has been flooded with petitions where mothers-in-law wanted their daughters-in-law to come back home after they left their sasuraal over petty fights.

Project manager of the women’s helpline Pramila Devi said she had received several such petitions since she joined office.

“I joined office in 2004. Since then, I have been receiving petitions from women who want to bring back their daughters-in-law to their house. The bahus had left home over family fights,” Pramila said.

“In the petitions, most of the mothers-in-law stated that they wanted to sort out all kinds of differences with their daughters-in-law. We termed such cases as ‘Bahu Vapasi’ (return of daughter-in-law) to register them in our database. There is no provision to deal with such cases but we help the mothers-in-law as a part of our social responsibility. We feel we are doing a noble job,” said the manager.

Sarita Sajal, a counsellor at the helpline, said: “In 5 per cent of the cases we found the women left their husband’s home because they did not have privacy at their in-laws’ place. In the rest of the cases it was found that small disputes strained the relationship.”

“Excessive interference from the bride’s family also led to the separation in some cases. The helpline tries to deal with the Bahu Vapasi cases very sensitively. After we receive a petition from a mother-in-law, we send a notice to the daughter-in-law within 24 hours. We ask the latter to state the reason behind leaving her in-laws’ house,” Sajal said.

The counsellor said they call the woman and her husband’s family for counselling.

“During the counselling, we make the in-laws aware of the problems the bahu faced at her husband’s house. We also try to convince the bahu that she would have to adjust a bit if she wants the marriage to work out. We have been successful in persuading the women to go back to her in-laws’ place in more than 90 per cent cases,” Sajal added.

No matter what the approach of the helpline is, the mothers-in-law are reaping the fruits of the facility.

Rano Devi (name changed), a resident of Shivpuri, said: “The helpline is Godsend. Its personnel have helped me a lot in settling my son’s differences with his wife. She has come back. I am thankful to the helpline.”

Rano Devi had submitted her petition in June and the helpline personnel helped her get her daughter-in-law back within a month.