Geeta's DNA test did not match Mahatos: Ministry

The DNA sample of Geeta, the deaf and mute young woman who returned to India more than a decade after mistakenly foraying into Pakistan, did not match that of the Mahato family of Bihar that claimed her as its long-lost daughter, the government confirmed on Thursday.

"We got conducted a DNA test on Geeta. The Mahato family came forward to claim her as a family member, and after seeing whose photos Geeta thought they might be her parents," Vikas Swarup, spokesperson of the external affairs ministry, said in his weekly media briefing here.

"A DNA test of the Mahatos was done, the report of which we handed over to the family last week. The DNA test was negative," Swarup said.

He said a day after her return from Pakistan, Geeta was sent to a home in Indore that looked after deaf and mute people like her.

"She is undergoing vocational training there so that she can stand on her own feet," the spokesperson said.

He said several other families too have come forward to claim her.

"We are sending the photographs of these families to Geeta. She is going through these but has till now not said that any of them could be her parents," Swarup said.

According to him, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will go to Indore on November 23 to take personal stock of the young woman's welfare.

Geeta's story attracted media limelight after the release of Salman Khan-starrer 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' in which he helps unite a Pakistani girl, who had inadvertently crossed over to India, with her family back home.