External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has made an appeal through Twitter seeking public assistance in finding the family of Geeta, the deaf and mute girl who had mistakenly crossed the border over to Pakistan over 10 years ago.
Geeta returned to India on October 26 and is currently learning sign language at the Indore Deaf Bilingual Academy. Geeta was brought to India through the combined efforts of Indian and Pakistani officials.
Janardan Mahto, a labourer from a Bihar’s Saharsa had claimed to be Geeta’s father after she recognised photos of his family as her own. However, on arrival in India, she failed to recognise the family. A DNA test also proved the Mahatos were not Geeta’s family.
Since then, the government has been on the look out for her parents. In a renewed effort, Swaraj tweeted all the information she could gather from
Geeta – including posting an old photograph of the girl.
In her first public appearance on November 7, Geeta recalled her four siblings – two brothers and two sisters – and that her house was surrounded by rice and wheat fields. However, she could not pinpoint the location. Swaraj tweeted more about the location.
Based on her recollection of the location, Swaraj has concluded that Geeta could be from Bihar or Jharkhand. The minister also shared the girls’s identification marks.
Let’s hope the government’s efforts yield some results.
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