KARACHI (TIP): A Pakistani court on September 3 rejected a petition to send back to India a deaf-mute woman who lost her family when she wandered over one of the world’s most militarized borders as a child, saying the two nations should resolve the issue diplomatically.

Geeta, a Hindu woman now in her early 20s, was around 11 years old when she inadvertently crossed the border from India to Pakistan. It was a mistake that would lead to a long search for her family that captivated the public after a hit film with a similar plot was released last month.

In August, an Indian lawyer filed an application with a Pakistani provincial court through local lawyers, asking that the court invoke a law that allows a judge “to compel restoration of abducted females”. “The issue in hand is to be resolved with consent of both the countries,” the court order read. The judge said it was for the government of India to decide whether Geeta was an Indian national and hence it was outside the court’s jurisdiction to order sending her back to India.