Witch-doctor bans girl with tumour

New Delhi, India - AN Indian teenage girl was dragged to a witch doctor and banished from her village for carrying the "devil's child" that turned out to be a 15 kg tumour.

Chhabi Shabar, 17, was taken to a witch doctor in eastern India when her stomach started swelling up a few months ago, it was reported.

Residents of Dhamaitikri village in West Bengal state declared that the unmarried girl must be pregnant.

Her farmer father took her to a local doctor who also concluded Chhabi was expecting because her abdomen kept growing and she suffered from nausea and breathing problems.

Village elders took Chhabi to a witch doctor who proclaimed she was carrying the "devil's child", the report said.

When his prayers didn't help, the villagers banished her.

Chhabi's relatives, who lived in Calcutta, took her to a gastroenterologist in the city this month.

A sonography revealed Chhabi was not pregnant, but had a tumour in the abdominal cavity.

Doctors said the huge tumour was the size of about five foetuses.

"When we brought it out, her parents were stunned," said doctor Arko Banerjee, who said he had never before performed an operation like this.