‘Look Like Nora Fatehi’: UP Woman Accuses Husband of Coercion, Body-Shaming and Dowry Demands; FIR Filed

Obsessed with Bollywood actor Nora Fatehi, a 28-year-old physical education teacher from Meerut, allegedly forced his wife to spend three hours at the gym every day to match the actor’s physique. In her complaint filed in Muradnagar, Ghaziabad, the 26-year-old woman said her husband taunted her over her appearance and withheld food if she resisted, accusing him and his family of body-shaming, coercive control and emotional harassment.

The couple's marriage, solemnised in March this year, quickly turned turbulent. In her complaint, the woman alleged that her husband “constantly taunted her about her physical appearance,” going so far as to say that “his life was ruined because he could have married a woman who resembled Nora Fatehi".

As The Times of India reported, what may have first appeared as "motivation" to stay fit soon escalated into coercion. The woman was compelled to undergo gruelling three-hour gym sessions every day, framed by her husband as a quest for an aspirational body image but experienced by her as relentless control and humiliation.

The allegations extend beyond body-shaming. Despite her family spending nearly Rs. 75 lakh on the wedding, lavishly gifting a Mahindra Scorpio, cash, and jewellery, the woman said her in-laws continued to press for additional dowry. The financial demands, she claimed, were layered onto the emotional and physical abuse she endured at home.

The situation escalated further after the woman conceived. She told police that when she informed her in-laws about the pregnancy, her mother-in-law showed no interest. Shortly afterwards, her husband handed her a pill, the effects of which she did not initially understand. Her condition deteriorated soon after, and her in-laws dropped her off at her parental home. She was eventually admitted to a hospital, where doctors confirmed that she had suffered a miscarriage. It was only later, upon researching the medicine online, that she realised her husband had given her an abortion pill.

By the end of July, when she tried to return to her in-laws’ home, she was allegedly denied entry. With no other recourse, the woman approached the police this week.

An FIR has since been registered against her husband and in-laws under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including provisions for dowry harassment, intentional humiliation and abortion.