MillenniumPost
Delhi

Kejriwal meets Geeta, offers all assistance

Geeta, the deaf and mute Indian girl who returned home on Monday  from Pakistan, met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at his residence here on Tuesday morning.

Interacting with 23-year-old Geeta for almost 20 minutes through a sign language interpreter, Kejriwal offered her every possible help as she begins her life anew in India.

Dressed in a sky blue-magenta salwar-kameez and her head covered with a dupatta, Geeta had come for the interaction accompanied by five members of the Pakistani Edhi foundation, which was taking care of her in Pakistan.

Nearly 15 years after inadvertently crossing into the neighbouring country, Geeta returned to India on Monday to an emotional welcome. 

She failed, however, to recognise a family which she had initially identified from photographs and Sushma Swaraj said that she will be staying in Indore till her “real family” was found.

Geeta was reportedly just 7 or 8 years old when she was found nearly 15 years ago by the Pakistan Rangers, sitting alone on the Samjhauta Express at the Lahore railway station.

She was adopted by the Edhi Foundation’s Bilquees Edhi and lived with her in Karachi. Bilquis and her grandchildren, Saba and Saad Edhi, have accompanied Geeta here.

Her story came to light after the release of Salman Khan starrer Bajrangi Bhaijaan, in which the eponymous hero unites a girl separated from her Pakistani mother during a visit to India.

Geeta also took a ride on the Delhi Metro and visited the Metro museum in the heart of the Capital. After meeting Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Geeta boarded a Delhi Metro train at the Civil Lines station in the city’s north and travelled all the way to Patel Chowk station, near Parliament. At the Patel Chowk station, she visited the Metro Museum and was taken around with an interpreter’s help, Delhi Metro official said.

She was accompanied by members of the Edhi family who took care of Geeta for over a decade in Pakistan. 
Next Story
Share it