PRATAPGARH/NEW DELHI : A couple from Rampur is all set to meet Geeta, a speech and hearing-impaired girl who returned after being stranded for 15 years in Pakistan, in Delhi with “evidence” claiming her to be their missing daughter.
Hailing from Rampur village, Anara Devi and her husband Ram Raj are all set to go to Delhi to meet Geeta who on Monday refused to recognise the Mahatos from Bihar whom she had identified as her family through photographs when she was in Karachi.
“We have photographs and some other evidence which we are sure she will recognise,” Anara Devi, who lives in Maheshganj police station area, about 50 kms from the district headquarters said on Tuesday.
The family has already given their consent to a DNA test and said that Geeta is their daughter Savita who had gone missing 12 years ago from Nanak Shahi Math in Bihar.
The family also met senior officials in Allahabad in this connection on Monday.
Geeta who returned from Pakistan after a gap of 15 years failed to recognise the Mahatos from Bihar who came to receive her at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Monday.
External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj stated that Geeta refused to identify the Mahatos as her family. She had earlier identified them through pictures sent by the Indian High Commission in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Geeta on Tuesday met President Pranab Mukherjee here.
The President blessed Geeta and said, “You are the daughter of both our country, a symbol of India-Pakistan unity. God has listened to your prayers.” Geeta called on the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan here, a press release issued by the President’s office said.
She was accompanied by officials of Pakistan’s Edhi Foundation, who looked after her in the neighbouring nation. Mukherjee also complimented and thanked Bilqis Bano Edhi and Edhi Foundation for the good work they were doing, it said.
Geeta was reportedly just 7 or 8 years old when she was found sitting alone on the Samjhauta Express by the Pakistan Rangers 15 years ago at the Lahore railway station.
Geeta, meanwhile, met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at his residence here on Tuesday morning.
Interacting with 23-year-old Geeta for almost 20 minutes through a sign language interpreter, Kejriwal offered her every possible help as she begins her life anew in India.
Dressed in a sky blue-magenta salwar-kameez and her head covered with a dupatta, Geeta had come for the interaction accompanied by five members of the Pakistani Edhi foundation, which was taking care of her in Pakistan.
Geeta also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
She failed, however, to recognise a family which she had initially identified from photographs and Swaraj said that she will be staying in Indore till her “real family” was found.
“Welcome back home, Geeta. It is truly wonderful to have you back home… All of India will take care of you,” Modi said and assured that every effort would be made to trace her family. (Agencies)
