Geeta has a son, say Saharsa villagers

SAHARSA: The countdown has begun for the return of Geeta from Pakistan but Kabira Dhap, a nondescript village under Simri Bakhtiyarpur subdivision of Bihar’s Saharsa district, can hardly wait. Residents say the 23-year-old deaf-mute girl is from the village and has a husband — and even a son — waiting for her.
They say Geeta is the daughter of Shanti Devi and Janardhan alias Jainandan Mahto, a daily wager who worked as a mason in Punjab. Geeta went missing from Kartarpur near Jalandhar, where she had gone to a ‘Baisakhi mela’.
Villagers said Mahto married off Geeta to Umesh Mahto of the same village when she was a minor. Like his father-in-law, Umesh too worked at different places in Punjab. “Umesh and Geeta had a son, Santosh Mahto, who is around 12 years old now,” a villager said. Their present whereabouts could not be ascertained.
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Bhaijaan moment: 12 years later, Geeta to come home
Geeta’s brothers Jainandan and Balram Mahto thanked the Indian government for taking the initiative to bring her home. They were profusely grateful to Pakistan’s Edhi Foundation for looking after her for such a long time.
Geeta had apparently boarded the Samjhauta Express and reached Lahore when she was 12-13 years old. The Pakistani police found her at the Lahore railway station and took her to a shelter home in Lahore, from where she was shifted to other shelter homes until she was finally brought to Edhi Foundation.
Kabira Dhap, a tiny settlement on the banks of the Kosi, is now praying for Geeta’s safe and early return. “Her actual name is Heeramani. She was named Geeta by Bilquis Edhi, a social activist in Pakistan,” the girl’s family members claimed.
“We are waiting for her safe return to the village,” said Kutheshwar Mahto, Geeta’s uncle.
Station house officer of Kanaria police outpost Darvesh Kumar Yadav said all help was being provided to Geeta’s family. “Many family members in Punjab and Delhi,” Yadav added.
Civil SDO of Simri Bakhtiyarpur Suman Prasad Sah, who was the first to visit Geeta’s house at Kabira Dhap, said she will be handed over to her family members after a DNA test to confirm her parentage.