The Jharkhand couple who claimed that Geeta, the speech-impaired girl who returned to India from Pakistan, is their child were disappointed yesterday after Geeta failed to identify them as her parents. Previously, around ten couples have claimed Geeta to be their long-lost daughter, but none of their claims were proved to be true.
A couple from Bandu village of Garhwa district in Jharkhand named Vijay Ram and wife Mala Devi had recently claimed that Geeta is their child, who disappeared during the same period when Geeta lost her way to Pakistan.
Geeta was found by Pakistan border police on Samjhauta Express train at Lahore railway station when she was just seven years old. Karachi-based NGO Edhi Foundation looked after her while she was in Pakistan. After diplomatic efforts she returned to India in October 2015. Since then she has been living at a children's home meant for deaf in Indore.
The couple had few months back approached the Garhwa district collector saying Geeta was their daughter Tunni Kumari alias Guddi. Tunni Kumari had reportedly disappeared from the house of her maternal grandmother in Rohtas district of Bihar.
Yesterday, a special meeting between the couple and Geeta was arranged by district administration of Indore at the Collector's office. Collector Nishant Warwade, ministry of external affairs officials and an official from Garhwa district administration were present along with sign language expert Gyanendra Purohit and the caretaker of the children's home.
However, Geeta did not recognise the couple from Jharkhand as her parents. According to an official she even failed to acknowledge the people who facilitated her return and the Edhi Foundation of Karachi, where she had stayed for several years. Hence we have decided to match the DNA samples of Jharkhand couple with that of Geeta. Geeta refused to give her DNA samples but that was not a problem as her samples were already with the administration, a government official said.
Collector Nishant Warwade said that,“Since I don’t know sign language, I won’t be able answer whether Geeta recognised the family or not. DNA test would show whether the couple are her biological parents.”
Earlier Geeta was brought from the children's home to the collector's office where she was shown the photos of Edhi Foundation, from where she was brought two years back, and some few papers written by her but she failed to recognize them. Gyanendra Purohit later told media that he is surprised that Geeta is not even recognising him. It seems that her memory is now fading or there is some other reason.
Meanwhile the Indore district administration collected blood sample of Vijay Ram and Mala Devi for DNA matching with Geeta. The team left for New Delhi where the samples will be matched at Central Forensic Laboratory. The lab already has master DNA of Geeta. The results are expected to come out within a week.
