Geeta may be kept at a Delhi facility on repatriation from Pakistan

New Delhi, Sep 13: Amid efforts to bring back Geeta, the deaf and mute Indian woman stranded in Pakistan, the government has zeroed in on an institution where she could be accommodated after repatriation.

According to sources in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the 23-year-old woman is likely to be put up at Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Institute for the Physically Handicapped here.

"We have sent a proposal to the External Affairs Ministry that Geeta should be accommodated at Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya Institute for the Physically Handicapped. She would also be provided expert assistance from the regional centre of the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped located in the national capital," a senior official with the Ministry told PTI.

The institute is an autonomous organization under the administrative control of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, which was assigned the responsibility to find a suitable place to accommodate the differently-abled woman.

Geeta is believed to have inadvertently crossed over to Pakistani territory as a child.

She was 7-8 years old when she was found by the Pakistan Rangers 15 years ago at Lahore railway station, according to reports from there.

She is currently under the care of a charity Edhi Foundation. Four families from Punjab, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh have claimed Geeta was their daughter and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has asked Chief Ministers of these states to send photographs of those claiming to be her parents which could be sent to her for identification.

PTI