Blow to Janardan Mahto claims, DNA tests say Geeta is not his daughter

Proving his claims to be otherwise, now a DNA test revealed today that Janardan Mahto, a labourer from a Bihar’s Saharsa is not Geeta’s father.

On 20 October, Mahto had left for Delhi after Geeta arrived to India from Pakistan in hopes to meet his daughter, a newswire18 report said. Geeta, the deaf-mute Indian woman who had been living in Pakistan had accidentally crossed the border over a decade ago. She failed to recognise the family she has identified from photographs.

After seeing Geeta on television, Mahto had claimed two months back that Geeta was actually his daughter Hira. Mahto was so confident of his claims that he even readily agreed for a DNA tests. “I will go for a DNA test before the government will hand her over to me,” Mahto had said earlier according to the news18 report.

Mahto had claimed that “Geeta went missing from Kartarpur near Jalandhar, where she had gone to a ‘Baisakhi mela’ in 2004 when he was working as a labourer in Punjab”.

The story of Geeta, a woman in her early 20s, captivated people in both countries at a time of heightened tension and border clashes between the nuclear-armed rivals.

“It doesn’t matter if we find her parents or not, she is a daughter of India and we will take care of her,” External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had told a news conference on 20 October.

Geeta was about 11 when she crossed from India into Pakistan. Exactly how is not clear but Geeta mimes an explosion and shows how she ducked and ran before being caught by armed men.

At first, after she crossed over accidentally Geeta was kept at a children’s home in Lahore, where she was given the Muslim name Fatima.

She would point at maps of India, especially to an area in the south of Jharkhand until she was able to finally communicate she was from India, not Pakistan.

“Geeta stayed with us for 13 years. Now it’s time for her to go home,” said Faisal Edhi last month, son of the founder of Edhi Foundation, a Pakistani charity that looked after the girl.

With IANS & Reuters input