A 19-year-old girl in Andra Pradesh suffered burns all over her body after being forced to stand in fire as part of an exorcism, Malaysia Nanban reported.

       She was a student at a private college and had apparently been feeling unwell for some time.

       Her parents, who were influenced by some relatives, decided to send the girl to a shaman instead of getting medical attention.

       The shaman declared that the girl had been possessed by evil spirits. He then proceeded to conduct an exorcism which involved walking on burning coal.

       The teenager fainted and fell over into the embers but was forced to stand again and to complete the walk, leaving her with numerous burns.

       She was eventually admitted to the hospital for her injuries.

       The shaman has since been arrested.

       ● The above article is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with this ' >'sign, it denotes a separate news item.