Woman brought to India from Pakistan briefly goes missing

Indore (Madhya Pradesh) : Geeta, the deaf and mute woman who returned to India from Pakistan in 2015, briefly went missing from a city-based institute where she had been living, police said today.

After returning from Pakistan in October 2015, the 23- year-old had been residing at the institute for the deaf and mute at Gumasta Nagar. A senior police officer told PTI that Geeta went missing around 4 pm yesterday and was traced 30 minutes later by the police.

“We traced Geeta within 30 minutes and found her 3 km away from the institute, where she has been living since the past 20 months,” he added. However, it was not clear how she disappeared from the facility. The director of the institute, Monika Punjabi Verma, could not be contacted despite repeated efforts.

When contacted, district collector Nishant Warwade said he was aware of the incident but did not have details. Geeta was reportedly just 7 or 8 years old when she was found sitting alone on the Samjhauta Express by the Pakistan Rangers at the Lahore railway station. She was adopted by Bilquis Edhi, a Pakistani philanthropist attached to the Edhi Foundation, and lived with her in Karachi till October 2015, before returning to India.

However, despite efforts officials have not been able to locate her family.