5 years after return to India from Pakistan, Geeta finds her birth mother

A deaf and dumb Indian woman, who was rescued by a social welfare organisation in Pakistan after she mistakenly ended up on this nation earlier than being despatched again to India in 2015, has lastly been reunited with her actual mother in Maharashtra.

Bilquees Edhi the spouse of late Abdul Sattar Edhi, who now runs the world well-known Edhi Welfare Trust and who developed an in depth bond with Geeta (29) mentioned the Indian woman had lastly been reunited with her actual mother in Maharashtra state, Dawn newspaper reported.

(*5*) Ms. Bilquees mentioned.

“Her real name is Radha Waghmare and she found her mother in Naigaon village in the state of Maharashtra,” she additionally confirmed to PTI.

Geeta captured the eye of the media and governments in each nations in 2015 however in accordance to Ms. Bilquees they’d discovered Geeta when she was round 11-12 years previous at a railway station and gave her shelter at their centre in Karachi. “Somehow she strayed into Pakistan and was shelterless when we found her in Karachi,” she mentioned.

“She stayed at the Edhi centre for years and I took care of her and we named her Fatima later when I realised she was a Puucho we named her Geeta and even though she couldn’t speak or hear but we communicated properly through sign language,” Ms. Bilquees mentioned.

In 2015, after Geeta’s story broke out, the late External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, made preparations for her to be flown again residence.

Ms. Bilquees mentioned that it had taken almost 4 and half years for Geeta to discover her actual mother and father.“Geeta has also recognised her mother and she lives with her family in Naigaon village now. Her biological father died a few years back so her mother, Meena remarried,” she mentioned.

The over five-year-long search to discover Geeta’s household led to Parbhani in Maharashtra, the place she is now being educated in signal language by Pahal, an NGO working for the listening to and speech impaired.

Speaking to PTI, Dr Anand Selgaokar of Pahal mentioned Geeta was handed over to Anand Services Society, one other Indore-based NGO, on July 20, 2020 and Gyanendra Purohit of that NGO first got here to Parbhani in December final 12 months.

The search within the final 5 years concerned screening strategy of at the least a dozen households from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana and Rajasthan after claims that they have been Geeta’s blood relations.

Mr. Purohit mentioned the search led the NGO to Meena Waghmare (71) who lived in Jintur in Parbhani district, when her daughter Radha (Geeta) went lacking. “Meena told us that her daughter has a burn mark on her stomach and when we checked, it turned out to be true,” Mr. Purohit mentioned.

Geeta’s father and Meena’s first husband Sudhakar Waghmare died some years in the past and he or she now lives close to Aurangabad with her second husband. Tears rolled down Meena’s eyes as she met Geeta for the primary time, he mentioned.

Geeta didn’t perceive a phrase of what Meena mentioned as being speech and listening to impaired, she communicates solely by means of signal language.

It is probably going that Geeta reached Parbhani and boarded the Sachkhand Express to Amritsar and later boarded the Delhi-Lahore Samjhauta Express, Mr. Selgaonkar mentioned.

Geeta has now spent round a month-and-a-half in Parbhani and infrequently meets with Meena and the latter’s married daughter, who additionally lives within the Marathwada area. “It is for the government authorities to decide on when to conduct a DNA test. Till then Geeta will continue to receive training at Pahal,” Mr. Selgaonkar mentioned.

Ms. Bilquees mentioned she was simply completely happy that Geeta who was like a daughter to her had lastly reunited with her actual household. “To be lost for such a long time from your family is difficult for anyone and especially for someone special like Geeta,” she added.