An Indian woman with 20 toes and 12 fingers is called a witch and has faced a lifetime of persecution in her village in eastern India.<br /><br />Nayak Kumari, 63, was forced to spend much of her life inside the four walls of her small hut in Kadapada, in Ganjam district. <br /><br />“If I stepped out, I would be greeted with hostile stares and I would hurry back to my home,” Kumari said. <br /><br />“People in the village are superstitious, they thought I was a witch and kept away from me," she added.<br /><br />Kumari was unable to find work or marry and was reduced to destitution. She survived with the dole outs from a few kind relatives. <br /><br />“I was born into a poor family with this defect. We never had money to get me treated,” she said. <br /><br />Kumari was born with polydactyly where a person is born with extra fingers or toes. <br /><br />Experts say while having one or two extra fingers is fairly common, having 20 toes and 12 fingers is very rare.<br /><br />Help finally arrived for Kumari a few days ago. After local media reported on her plight, government officials moved her to an old age home, where she is now being looked after.
