Mangalore: Geeta Thapa Reunites with Family in Nepal: Courtesy - White Doves

mangaloretoday.com/ media release

Mangalore, Jan 12: Geeta Thapa and her family, hailing from Nepal, might have been the victims of the recent exodus of northeastern residents from other states. She was fortunate enough to have been saved by the city-based NGO ’White Doves’ 6 months ago and now reunited with her family. Mangalorean.com had published an article on Geeta Thapa in order to find her family on October 24, 2012. Thereafter, efforts were made to trace her family with the help of the Nepal police, who fully complied with the request and made an announcement on the radio for Geeta’s family.

 

 

 

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Within 3 days, the Nepali police traced the family of Geeta and contacted our correspondent on October 28.  Mangalorean.com contacted Geeta’s son-in-law, Eshwar Bohra, through phone and conveyed the message of his mother-in-law. Bohra said that Geeta’s husband and son were safe in Kannur in Kerala. 

After a week, Geeta’s relative Prakash who is working in a college in Ernakulam, Kerala contacted the website and informed about Geeta’s husband Dil Bahdur and her 2-year-old son Robin. Finally, the day arrived and Geeta’s husband Dil Bahadur, daughter Sumitra and son Tharbin, along with their relative Prakash, arrived at White Doves in the city. The moment of meeting, after so much turmoil, was very emotional one. Geeta’s eyes were filled with tears. She came to the waiting room and met her family. Holding her son in her arms, she cried with joy. She had finally been reunited with her family.

 

According to Dil Bahadur, when they were coming from Nepal, at Kannur, a woman entered the railway compartment along with some men. The woman befriended Geeta and offered something to eat.  Geeta got down from the train after consuming the eatables to get some water.  When her husband said not to go, she did not listened to him and started to run from there.  Dil Bahadur also got down from the train with the child and followed her, but couldn’t find her anywhere.   After losing his wife on the train, Dil Bahdur was in distress and roaming in the streets of Kannur without a shirt carrying a small boy.  The police of Kannur saw him roaming without proper dress. They thought he must have stolen the child from somewhere and took him along with his child Tharbin into custody.  The police later sent the child to Isne Kutti Ashram in Taliparamba.

Two days after the incident, Prakash got a call from the Kannur police station saying that they had found Dil Bahadur and asked him to take him from there. Prakash took a train from Ernakulam and reached Kannur. The police also informed that the 2-year-old son Robin was in Isne Kutti Ashram in Talipuram. When Prakash went to the ashram, the authorities there did not allow him to take Robin back for lack of evidence. He then took the help of a college committee member who was the Chairman of the ashram and took Robin into his custody and brought him back.

When we asked Dil Bahadur how he felt after meeting his wife, he said, "I am very happy to see my wife after 6 months. I thought she might have died and I was also separated from my younger son Robin. But God is great and he has united all of us." He also thanked White Doves for taking care of his wife for such a long time. 

 

 

Corrine said that the Pandeshwar SI Bharati brought Geeta to White Doves. From there she was taken to the Wenlock Hospital. She was treated under the MLC (medico-legal case) category and discharged in 2 days.  During that period, only Geeta’s wounds were cleaned and the hospital authorities asked Corrine to take her back. 

Corrine also said, "When the doctor in Wenlock insisted that we take Geeta back, we found her wounds were still deep and got her admitted to the KMC Hospital Attavar, where she had a surgery performed."

When Geeta recovered from her traumatic state, she said that her husband and son had been killed by the gang in the train and she luckily escaped.  Corrine also revealed that in Wenlock, there were no proper wheelchairs for the patients.  Even the X-ray machines do not work properly.  "How can poor people afford to pay huge amounts for X-ray in private facilities?" she queries.

She also said that if Geeta was admitted in any other government organization, she would get the same treatment and it was not possible to trace her family.  Whereas, White Doves, being a private NGO which takes care of the inmates with love, helps to enhance them morally. 

 

 

White Doves has thus far united more than 45 inmates with their families but Geeta’s case was different. She did not know or have any contact number. She could only recall a neighbour’s name called Ram Bahadur Shresta. Another name she remembered was of Dil Bahadur Thapa, who is her daughter’s father-in-law.  She also said that her house was in a remote area, about half an hour’s distance from the Jhimruk bus stand where she had to cross the Khola river to go to her house.

Corrine also applauded the efforts of Ms.Violet Perieira in helping to search for the family members of Geeta in Nepal. While Ms Violet attributes credit to Corrine who did everything for reuniting the family