Narrowing the search: Four families lay claim to Geeta

India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj asks state chief ministers to verify claims

Another two families have stepped forward to claim that the deaf-mute girl, Geeta, who turned up at the doorstep of the Edhi Foundation in Pakistan a little over a decade ago is their missing daughter, Indian media reports said on Saturday.

Earlier two other families had made similar claims about the girl. Two families, one living in the Uttar Pradesh state and the other in Jharkhand state suspect that Geeta is their daughter.

Ramraj and Anara Devi, a couple from Dhamohan village in UP's Pratapgarh district, said that Geeta was their daughter Savita who went missing from an ashram in Bihar 11 years ago.

The couple, after tracking news reports and Geeta’s pictures on television, is fully convinced she is one of their six children who went missing at the age of nine.

"We have contacted police officials at the local Maheshganj station for help,” said Ramraj, a farmer in the village.

He insisted that they had left ‘Savita’ at the Chhapra ashram of her uncle Baba Narayan Das in 2004 and she went missing.

The family from Bokaro in Jharkhand, however, is convinced that Geeta is their fourth child Kokia Kumari, who went missing more than a decade ago after she went out to graze cattle.

“The day I saw her photo, I knew she is my Kokia. If she is my daughter, the government should bring her back as soon as possible," said Bachni Devi, who claims to be Geeta’s mother. A similar claim was made by another family living in Amritsar.

Sushma Swaraj’s tweets

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj confirmed the claims of the families on the micro blogging website Twitter, saying, "four families from Punjab, Bihar, Jharkhand and UP have claimed Geeta as their daughter".

She then directed the chief ministers of the respective states to "verify and report" on the matter, adding that more will be known on Geeta by Monday.

"We are completing the necessary formalities to bring Geeta back to India," she tweeted on Saturday.

The case of the hearing and speech-impaired Indian woman, Geeta, who had wandered off into Pakistan 15 years ago recently came into the limelight. Right after the case came into light Indian external affairs minister directed the Indian envoy in Pakistan TCA Raghavan to meet the girl.

Swaraj also thanked those in Pakistan who helped look after the young woman. "We are grateful to all individuals and institutions in Pakistan who looked after Geeta."

Published in The Express Tribune, August 9^th, 2015.