Rollie Lal Examines India Conversion Laws Impacting Women
India’s expanding religious conversion restrictions and newly enforced interfaith marriage penalties are reshaping legal rights for women across multiple states, as detailed in academic programming on South Asian security and human rights.
State Conversion Laws Target Interfaith Marriage
Hindu nationalist groups in India are utilizing conspiracy accusations centered on “love jihad”—a claim that Muslim men systematically target Hindu women for conversion through seduction—to enact and push restrictive state-level legislation. These newly enacted legal frameworks penalize interfaith marriages between Muslims or Christians and Hindus. Several jurisdictions now mandate that individuals notify the government regarding any intended religious conversion 60 to 90 days in advance. Regulations in these states automatically presume that marriages involving a converted woman or a member of a minority community occur under direct coercion.
These statutes explicitly empower family members to file formal complaints regarding marriages entered into voluntarily. Such provisions routinely trigger immediate police arrests and severe government harassment for the couples involved. By treating adult women as though they possess no personal agency, the laws assert that female participation in interfaith unions stems entirely from external manipulation. Consequently, families frequently exploit these legal instruments to halt unapproved unions.
Academic Analysis of Transnational Security and Human Rights
Rollie Lal, a professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs who teaches graduate courses on transnational security and religion, is examining these regulatory shifts as part of broader regional security trends. Lal serves as co-chair of the Global Affairs and Religion Network and previously held academic and research positions with the U.S. Department of Defense’s Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies and the RAND Corporation. Her published research addresses religious extremism, human rights, and South Asian politics.
The academic discussions focus heavily on how regional governments implement these statutes to curtail fundamental rights.
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