Four suitors, including a government employee and a pizza shop worker, today met Geeta, a hearing and speech impaired woman who returned from Pakistan after accidentally landing in that country as a child, in Indore.
A campaign to find a suitable match for Geeta is being conducted under Ministry of External Affairs and a Facebook advert had been put out in this regard.
A total of 50 people from various parts of the country had expressed their desire to tie knot with Geeta. However, only 14 proposals were short-listed after Geeta's consent and six of them were invited to meet her in Indore today.
"The campaign to find a suitable match for Geeta was being run under the guidance of the Ministry of External Affairs. Six persons from different parts of the country were invited today to Indore to meet her. Of them, four men turned up today," said Madhya Pradesh Social Justice and Empowerment Department Joint Director BC Jain told PTI.
He said Geeta has not yet taken a final call on the prospective groom.
"Geeta will meet eight men (out of the 14 suitors) tomorrow," Jain said.
However, Geeta has put certain pre-conditions.
Gyanendra Purohit, a sign language expert associated with the campaign to find a life partner for Geeta, said that "Through the sign language, Geeta has said that if she likes a non-deaf and mute man, he will have to learn the sign language so that both of them can communicate after their marriage. In addition, her future husband will have to help her in finding her parents".
When asked about the profile of four men who met Geeta today, sources said they included a moulding machine operator, an Excise Department employee, and a Pizza shop worker.
Among them, one Sachin Pal (27), an Indore-based moulding machine operator who is partially hearing impaired, refused to accept the conditions laid by Geeta.
Other suitors include Arun Namdev (26), an employee of Excise Department in Tikamgarh district, and Ritesh Patel (26) who works in a Pizza shop in Ahmedabad. Both are deaf-and-mute like Geeta.
Geeta also met one Rajkumar Swarnakar (29), a resident of Bhopal, who is physically-challenged.
Purohit said he had posted a matrimonial advertisement on Facebook for Geeta on April 10 after meeting External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
Geeta is currently staying in the premises run by "Mook Badhir Sangathan", an NGO, under the supervision of Social Justice Department.
In the last two and a half years, more than ten families from different parts of the country have claimed that Geeta was their missing daughter. But none of these claims could be verified in the government's investigations.
Geeta was found by Pakistani Rangers in Samjhauta Express at Lahore Railway Station when she was around eight.
She was brought back to India on October 26, 2015 on intervention of Swaraj.
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