Geeta to be brought back to India from Pak

New Delhi, Oct 23: Geeta, the deaf-mute Indian woman living in Pakistan will return home on October 26, over a decade after accidentally crossing over the border.

She will be accompanied by five officials from charitable Edhi Foundation which had been looking after her.

"Geeta will come back to India on October 26. She will be accompanied by five members of Edhi Foundation who will be treated as State guests," Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry Vikas Swarup said.

According to sources, Geeta has identified her father, step-mother and siblings from a photograph sent to her by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. The family reportedly lives in Bihar.

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.

Police took her to the Edhi Foundation in Lahore and later she was shifted to Karachi.

Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, T C A Raghavan, and his wife had visited Geeta in August after External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj directed him to meet her and try to locate her family.

The government was planning to carry out DNA testing to verify Geeta's parents. If the testing verifies the parents identified by her are indeed her parents then she will be handed over to them.

PTI