“It seems that she is from PoK. The places she has mentioned are there,” said Burney, who also took up the cause of Sarabjit Singh who is on death row in Pakistan. “I have taken Barao’s pictures. We will upload them on the Internet. I will also get in touch with the PoK government and request them to publish her photos in local newspapers.”

Burney, special advisor to the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, claimed the woman was in good health. “She said she had no problems, but wanted to go home,” he added.

Barao was found in a dishevelled condition on Digha-Contai road in East Midnapur in April 2006. She was admitted to Contai hospital and later shifted to the state hospital in August 2006 after intervention by the state government and Diganto, an NGO.

Seated on bed number one of the psychiatric ward, Barao kept yelling “mujhe wapas jana hai... mujhe ghar pahuncha do.”

“She was admitted with severe psychotic disorder,” recalled Srijit Das, who has looked after Barao from the beginning.

The Pakistan High Commission in India had tried to secure Barao’s return, and Kolkata High Court had in 2006 also ordered the state government to trace her home, but to no avail.

Doctors say Barao has recovered to a great extent. “She is usually cheerful and helps patients in need,” said Das. “But sometimes loneliness gets the better of her and then she cries out, ‘take me back home’.”

When she was hospitalised, Barao could only recall that she had a husband and children and her father’s apple orchard was located near her home.