Agencies
New Delhi

A mute and deaf Indian woman who has been stuck in Pakistan for more than a decade because she could not remember where she came from will return home on Monday after apparently identifying her family.
The foreign ministry yesterday said that the young woman, known only as Geeta, would undergo DNA testing to establish whether she is related to the people claiming to be her family.
The prospect of a long-awaited reunion comes after Geeta indicated earlier this month that she recognised a photograph of a family from Bihar sent to her by Indian authorities.
“Geeta has already identified one family as possibly being that of her parents,” foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said at a media briefing in New Delhi.
“We will be doing DNA tests to establish conclusive proof.”
Indian minister for external affairs, Sushma Swaraj, tweeted: “Geeta will be back in India soon.”
Geeta, who is believed to be in her twenties, will be accompanied by members of the Edhi Foundation, the charity that has been looking after her in Pakistan.
She was 11 or 12 when police found her, alone and disorientated with no identity papers, on a train that had crossed the border from India into the eastern city of Lahore.
She was believed to have strayed into Pakistani territory by mistake, but could not remember or explain exactly where she was from.
Pakistani police handed her over to the Edhi Foundation, the largest charity in the country, and she now lives in one of their shelters in Karachi.
Even the name “Geeta” was given to her by Edhi staff.
Anwar Kazmi, an Edhi official said “Documentation is being prepared for the departure dates.”
If her DNA does not match that of the family, who have travelled to Delhi specially to greet her, authorities have said they will find a home for Geeta in a “suitable institution”.
The government pledged in August to bring her home, after a hit Bollywood film returned the case to the media spotlight.
Bajrangi Bhaijaan, featuring superstars Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor, tells the mirror image of Geeta’s story: a mute young Pakistani woman trapped in India.
The scriptwriters were unaware of Geeta’s story, but the movie led to a surge in interest in her case.
Swarup rejected criticism in some media that Geeta’s return was hasty given that her ties with the family were not yet established.
“Everything we have done so far has been with the full knowledge and concurrence of Geeta and Edhi Foundation,” he said.