Geeta, who strayed into Pakistan, may have found her mother
No DNA test has been conducted yet but for 29-year-old Geeta, who returned to India from Pakistan in 2015 after going there when she was nine, the search for her biological mother may have ended, an NGO says. Geeta, returned to India on October 26, 2015, after intervention by then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Here are more details.
Geeta is being trained in sign language
Geeta was initially lodged at a facility of a hearing and speech impaired institute run by an Indore-based NGO. The over five-year-long search to find Geeta's family led to the Parbhani District of Maharashtra, where she is now being trained in sign language by Pahal, an NGO working for the hearing and speech impaired.
Dozens of families were screened from UP, Bihar, Telangana, Rajasthan
Dr. Anand Selgaokar of Pahal said that Geeta was handed over to Anand Services Society, another Indore-based NGO, on July 20, 2020, and Gyanendra Purohit of that NGO first came to Parbhani in December last year. The search in the last five years involved screening of at least a dozen families from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana, and Rajasthan after claims that they were Geeta's blood relations.
Woman said there was a burn mark on Geeta's stomach
Purohit said that the search led the NGO to Meena Waghmare (71) who lived in Jintur in Parbhani District when her daughter Radha (Geeta) went missing. "Meena told us that her daughter has a burn mark on her stomach and when we checked, it turned out to be true," Purohit said.
Geeta's father passed away a few years ago
"Geeta's father and Meena's first husband Sudhakar Waghmare died some years ago and she now lives near Aurangabad with her second husband," Purohit said. "Tears rolled down Meena's eyes as she met Geeta for the first time," he added. Geeta did not understand a word of what Meena said as being speech and hearing impaired, she communicates only through sign language.
Geeta possibly boarded the Delhi-Lahore Samjhauta Express
Dr. Selgaonkar said, "It is likely that Geeta reached Parbhani, and boarded the Sachkhand Express to Amritsar and later boarded the Delhi-Lahore Samjhauta Express." Geeta has now spent around a month-and-a-half in Parbhani and often meets with Meena and the latter's married daughter.
Geeta was rescued by a Social Welfare Organization in Pakistan
"It is for the government authorities to decide on when to conduct a DNA test. Till then Geeta will continue to receive training at Pahal," Selgaonkar said. Geeta was rescued by a Social Welfare Organisation in Pakistan after she mistakenly ended up in that country before being sent back to India in 2015.
Pakistani media reported about the reunion
Meanwhile, Pakistan's media also reported that she has been united with her real mother in Maharashtra. Bilquees Edhi, the wife of late Abdul Sattar Edhi, who now runs the world-famous Edhi Welfare Trust and developed a close bond with Geeta, said that the Indian girl had finally been reunited with her real mother in Maharashtra state, Dawn newspaper reported.
Geeta was found at an old railway station in Karachi
Edhi said, "We found Geeta when she was around 11-12 years old at a railway station and gave her shelter at our center in Karachi. Somehow she strayed into Pakistan and was shelterless when we found her in Karachi."
