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Indian 'mystery woman': Family not mine

Stranded after crossing into Pakistan by mistake, Geeta, a deaf-mute Indian woman, holds a photograph of a family in India which she believes is hers. Photo: AFP

An Indian woman who was stranded in Pakistan for a decade has returned home, but says the family she had identified in photos is not hers.

India's Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said the woman, named Geeta, is "refusing to recognise her family".

Geeta arrived in Delhi today morning, days after she identified her family in photos sent from India.

The government will now carry out a DNA test to ascertain if the family, who met her in Delhi, is really hers.

Geeta, who has speech and hearing impairments, was about 11 when she is believed to have strayed into Pakistan.

Her plight emerged following a Bollywood film Bajrangi Bhaijaan, which told the story of a Pakistani girl who cannot speak and is trapped in India.

Apart from a family from the eastern state of Bihar that Geeta identified from photographs, and later met in Delhi, at least two other families claimed her as their own.

Swaraj said that they would "counsel" Geeta to accept her family, if the DNA test proved that they were related.

If the tests are negative, she will be cared for at the shelter home until her family is traced, officials said.

Swaraj said: "Whether or not her parents are found, Geeta is our daughter. I thank Pakistan from the core of my heart for looking after her for so long."

 

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Indian 'mystery woman': Family not mine

Stranded after crossing into Pakistan by mistake, Geeta, a deaf-mute Indian woman, holds a photograph of a family in India which she believes is hers. Photo: AFP

An Indian woman who was stranded in Pakistan for a decade has returned home, but says the family she had identified in photos is not hers.

India's Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said the woman, named Geeta, is "refusing to recognise her family".

Geeta arrived in Delhi today morning, days after she identified her family in photos sent from India.

The government will now carry out a DNA test to ascertain if the family, who met her in Delhi, is really hers.

Geeta, who has speech and hearing impairments, was about 11 when she is believed to have strayed into Pakistan.

Her plight emerged following a Bollywood film Bajrangi Bhaijaan, which told the story of a Pakistani girl who cannot speak and is trapped in India.

Apart from a family from the eastern state of Bihar that Geeta identified from photographs, and later met in Delhi, at least two other families claimed her as their own.

Swaraj said that they would "counsel" Geeta to accept her family, if the DNA test proved that they were related.

If the tests are negative, she will be cared for at the shelter home until her family is traced, officials said.

Swaraj said: "Whether or not her parents are found, Geeta is our daughter. I thank Pakistan from the core of my heart for looking after her for so long."

 

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‘অল্পের জন্য বেঁচে গেছি’

লঞ্চ দুটি হলো এমভি কীর্তনখোলা-১০ ও এমভি প্রিন্স আওলাদ-১০।

৫৪ মিনিট আগে