Indore, (Samajweekly) The deaf and mute girl Geeta, whose return to India from Pakistan in 2015 captured the nation’s imagination, has seen a major change in her life and the possibility that she will soon be reunited with her family.
Geeta will now live in Parbhani, Maharashtra where she will be trained to become self-reliant with the help of experts from Mumbai’s Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
Geeta was brought from Pakistan to Indore on October 26, 2015 at the initiative of then External Affairs Minister, the late Sushma Swaraj. She got temporary refuge at an organisation for the deaf in Indore. The search for her family has been going on continuously for the last five years, but so far with no success. Geeta was with the Anand Service Society from July, 2020 and was being looked after by this society.
Gyanendra Purohit of Anand Service Society and his wife Monika Purohit have been constantly searching for the family of Geeta. Geeta had told them that the place where she lived was used for sugarcane and groundnut cultivation.
Monika Purohit told IANS that on the basis of the signs given by Geeta, when she started the search she came to the conclusion that Geeta lived somewhere in Maharashtra. Geeta had also said that she was travelling in a train whose engine was changed in one place and the whole train is changed later and that is how she reached Pakistan.
The search for Geeta’s family by the Anand Service Society was on when Parbhani’s Waghmare family claimed Geeta as their daughter. Monika Purohit said that Geeta has been sent to Parbhani where she will stay with an organisation called ‘Pahal’ which helps deaf and mute people, and she will also be trained to become self-sufficient. Geeta will also be assisted by experts of Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
Monika Purohit says that the facts given by the Parbhani family for Geeta indicate some similarity, so the DNA of the family and Geeta can be done soon, and only then will the process start. At the moment Geeta is not ready for a DNA test. Indore Deputy Inspector General of Police Harinarayan Chari Mishra has also been involved for a long time in the search for Geeta’s family.
