Whenever 26-year-old scholar Kauther was invited to drink by her elder brother, she would say that doctors had strictly asked her to not consume alcohol. This was one of the many lies she told her ‘upper’ caste Hindu family since she had converted to Islam.
In college, the writings of University of California professor Saba Mahmoud and American anthropologist Lila Abu-Lughod had introduced her to gender politics in Islam. Inspired by what she read, she became a Muslim. But neither her family, nor what Kauther describes as “the current environment in the country” have offered her an opportunity to come out in the open as a converted Muslim woman.
Interestingly, during her college days, Kauther had been associated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a right-wing national student association affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) – the ideological fountainhead of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The ABVP has, in several instances, openly called for violence against Muslims.
“It is a shameful thing to admit, but I was the face of the Hindutva group at my university. But things changed for me,” she says.
Kauther says her decision to leave ABVP provoked abuses and threats from her former friends in the group. She eventually became friends with the same Muslim student activists whom she had called “extremists” when she was a part of ABVP.
Out of fear of repercussion, Kauther did not get her conversion notified officially in the government gazette. “I would need to sign an affidavit, submit documents, and advertise the change of religion in the papers if I want to convert officially. My family will surely come to know of my decision then,” she says.
“In such a scenario, if not my parents, my relatives will definitely retaliate violently as it becomes an issue of so-called honour of the family,” she adds.
Cases of social ostracisation, torture, and attacks by Hindutva groups on mere suspicion of conversion to minority religions have been widely reported of late. Kauther thus fears that she might be made an example of, given the times.
This, in a large way, contributed to Kauther’s decision to move abroad for her studies. She adds that she does not want to say where she lives out of continuing fear.
Kauther’s case is not an aberration. “There are people who act as spies of Hindutva organisations at places like affidavit shops, notary services and even government offices. So, whenever somebody comes up with a religion change registration, the organisations like Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal hound them. They also inform and pressurise their families,” says Ramees E.K., president of the Student Islamic Organization of India.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
State ‘interference’ and persecution
India’s downslide, when it comes to religious freedom, has been a topic both globally and nationally. It was also the topic of the only question taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House, during his recent US visit.
Last year, the US Commission for International Religious Freedom, for the fourth time in a row, flagged India for “severely deteriorating” religious freedoms. It has designated India as a ‘country of particular concern’.
In India, the right to convert to any other religion is safeguarded in Article 25 of the constitution, which ensures that all individuals are equally entitled to “freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate their religion”. But Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been accused of overlooking the constitutional rights and introducing new laws in their ruling states that “criminalise” conversion.
As of today, ten Indian states, most of them ruled by BJP have sanctioned anti-conversion laws which are popularised as “love jihad” laws, giving credence to the bogey that there is a conspiracy afoot through which Muslim men convert Hindu women through marriage.
Now, with talk on a Uniform Civil Code mostly targeting Muslims, critics say the BJP government has been enacting discriminatory legislation in states in the name of “anti-conversion laws.” For instance in Uttarakhand ruled by the BJP, the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act was enacted in 2018 with the stated objective “to provide freedom of religion by the prohibition of conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage and for the matters incidental thereto”. But according to the law, if any person returns to their “ancestral religion”, such an act shall not be deemed conversion under the Act. This essentially means conversion to Hinduism from any other religion is largely spared from investigation under this law. Hindu supremacist groups like RSS argue that all Indians are originally Hindus irrespective of the religion they follow.
Also read: Lies, Insistence and Disregard for Evidence: The Journey of ‘Love Jihad’ Laws
“These anti-conversion laws not only criminalise personal choices of choosing one’s religion – specifically if that religion happens to be either Islam or Christianity – but more worryingly targets religious leaders of Muslim and Christian minorities,” said Dr. Mohammad Reyaz, an academic who works on issues of minority marginalisation. “Simply put, the so-called anti-conversion laws are always one-step closer to making India a Hindu Rashtra [Hindu nation],”
“These laws are only applied if Hindus convert to Islam or Christianity. In contrast, Muslims or Christians converting to Hinduism are celebrated as ghar wapsi [homecoming],” he added.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
Of violence, death and destruction
Hailing from Sitamarhi district of Bihar, 25-year-old Pinky had never thought that the new faith she had embraced would be the reason for attacks on her and her husband. Born in a Hindu family, Pinky converted to Christianity and married Ram Nivas, a pastor who had converted to Christianity from Hinduism. Their conversion and marriage didn’t go well with local unit of VHP. “The local VHP leaders used to harass us. They never let us live peacefully,” Pinky said.
One day when they were conducting a prayer meeting at their home, a mob broke into their house, destroying whatever they saw and severely thrashing Pinky and Ram.
Ram sustained serious injuries, contracted COVID-19 while undergoing treatment and died within days of the attack.
“What was our fault? Can’t we practice our faith?” asks Pinky.
A report compiled by the United Christian Forum, a non-governmental organisation, that documented cases of religiously motivated violence against Christians in the country suggested that 2022 was the most violent year for the community. The country witnessed 522 cases of violent attacks on Christians, the highest ever since the UCF started documenting such attacks in 2014.
“In almost all incidents reported across India, vigilante mobs comprising religious extremists have been seen to either barge into a prayer gathering or round up individuals that they believe are involved in forcible religious conversions. With impunity, such mobs criminally threaten and/or physically assault people in prayer before handing them over to the police on allegations of forcible conversions,” the report by UCF notes.
Also read: Religious Conversion a Serious Issue, Shouldn’t Be Given ‘Political Colour’, Says SC
“This violence against the Christian community is compounded by the failure of the police to investigate and prosecute mobs and perpetrators,” the report adds.
AC Michael, a former member of the Delhi Minorities Commission and the current convenor of United Christian Forum says, “From our experience of handling such incidents, we can easily say that in almost all cases, the police and the local authorities are always found taking sides with perpetrators. In fact, sometimes, police seem to be working on the instructions of the perpetrators.”
“Many times, police accompany these mobs who attack the peacefully praying community and beat up men, women and children. They desecrate religious articles and burn Holy Bibles under the watch of police. Government has never taken our request to look into such incidents seriously nor have they taken any action against perpetrators,” he adds.
Open Doors, a global Christian organisation that tracks violence against the community across the world, ranks India as the 10th most dangerous country for Christians. For the last three years, the country has retained the same position. The watchdog in its 2022 report mentions that the persecution of Christians in India is intensifying as Hindu extremists “aim to cleanse the country of their presence and influence”.
“The driving force behind this is Hindutva, an ideology that disregards Indian Christians and other religious minorities as true Indians because they have allegiances that lie outside India and asserts the country should be purified of their presence,” the report notes.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
In 2017, RSS cadres in Malappuram, a Muslim-majority district in Kerala, killed Faisal P. who had recently converted to Islam. Faisal’s mother, who converted to Islam soon after her son was killed and assumed the name Jameela, says the murder was intended to threaten Muslims into submission. ”He was killed only because he embraced Islam. Even our relatives were part of the killing,” she said.
When Jameela and 16 members of her family converted to Islam after Faisal’s murder, they were also threatened with the same fate, she says.
Kauther, quoted at the beginning of the piece, had noted that “if you are a woman, vulnerabilities are high, even in personal circles.”
In November 2020, when the first case under the then new “anti-conversion law” was reported in Uttar Pradesh, Kauther’s home state, she could not sleep for days. By then she had begun learning how to perform the Islamic prayer but was afraid to do so in public or at home.
More than a dozen people interviewed for this article, which includes converts, activists, community leaders and legal experts, all said that Hindutva groups target Hindus who convert to Islam and Christianity with “state impunity”.
“We no longer feel assured that even courts would protect our rights,” says Aditya Menon, a prominent journalist based out of India, who converted to Islam as a teenager.
During his teenage years, Menon says he felt the need for a strong moral anchor, which he gradually began to find in Islam. “I began praying and fasting much later, only when I was 21 and had moved out for my studies, because since I was staying with family, I could not do it at home,” Menon said.
Menon formalised his conversion after the Narendra Modi government came into power in 2014.
“I did it immediately after this government came to power since I was sort of sure that they would introduce discriminatory laws against conversions,” said Menon.
Menon says that his identity as a Muslim now affects the networking that is required in his profession, but that is something he has learned to deal with. “But then one does find people who help,” he says.
‘Suffocating’ atmosphere
“I feared for my life,” says M, a journalist who left India and settled in Europe in 2021 after secretly converting to Islam. M doesn’t want to reveal her full name for fear of being harmed. She says that the idea of opening up about her faith to her parents or close family members has not occurred to her even once.
Also read: Cross Marks on Doors, Cries of Extermination: How Uttarakhand Became Our Hate Speech Capital
“They can kill me or they can resort to rape to ‘discipline’ me. This is not uncommon in Uttar Pradesh,” M says, adding that she no longer associates the idea of “home” with family.
“In order to continue working safely, the only viable option seemed to leave the country,” she adds.
Born in a Brahmin family in a village in western Uttar Pradesh, M says Islamophobia around her was ubiquitous. She often heard her family members blaming the Muslim community for every problem in the country as well as “harbouring callous stereotypes” against them. Things became worse when she fell in love with a Muslim boy in her teens. “This was the first time I realised how deep their hatred ran. My father told me that he is going to run this guy over,” M recalls.
At home, various forms of restrictions and abuse surrounded M. “They were all directed at regulating my body and my mind,” she says.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
When M joined college far away from her home, in New Delhi, she was introduced to radical literary and political ideas for the first time. “I developed a naive feminist rebellion as well as anti-caste consciousness, both compelling forces which pushed me out of my familial religion. It was during this time I got introduced to Islam,” she says.
It was over the course of several years that M embraced Islam and began to practice her faith earnestly. However, considering the hostile atmosphere in the country, she never revealed her new religious identity to anyone, except her close friends. “I had to hide my faith from not just my family members, but my colleagues at my former workplace as well. My hijab was called a “helmet” by one of my bosses and my co-workers would spread rumours and pass crass anti-Muslim jokes,” M says.
Kauther concurs. “It can be really suffocating to not practice what you believe in.”
But for most, leaving the country like Kauther or M is not even remotely an option.
“Where would we go? We are being harassed each day,” says Roshan, a Christian convert from Azamgarh city in Uttar Pradesh.
On December 31, 2021, Roshan’s house was attacked by the members of the Bajrang Dal who accused their family of forcefully converting people to Christianity. His father was taken to the police station by the mob where he was arrested on the basis of their complaint. “My father was released by the high court on bail after six months. He was jailed for no reason and had to endure so much stigma,” Roshan says.
People were afraid to support them because of threats from the Bajrang Dal.
In January 2023, 19-year-old Ashish Kumar Gupta was among three men who were arrested under the anti-conversion law in UP’s Prayagraj for distributing Islamic books and pamphlets during a Hindu religious festival.
Born in Maloni, Mumbai, Gupta was inspired by his uncle in Fatehpur, who had himself converted to Islam. “The atmosphere at their home was so good and I used to feel like staying there forever,” Gupta says.
His parents sensed his inclination towards Islam and refused to send him back to his uncle’s home. “One day I was watching a movie in which a character was praying. Out of nowhere I too prostrated myself,” he says.
Gupta, who was released on bail in March, says that despite all the talk around it, it is still not a crime to spread the word of a religion.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
‘Proud of our work’
Hindutva organisations like RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal have long claimed that Hindus in the country are being forcibly converted by Muslims and Christians and brought to their ‘folds’. They accuse Christian missionaries of luring poor Hindus by offering them monetary benefits. They also charge Muslims of not just ‘love jihad,’ – explained above – but also various forms of jihad, none of which are borne out by reports.
We talked to several members of Hindutva organisations who stated that they are “proud” of having forcefully stopped interfaith marriages and religious conversations.
“There can never be love between a Hindu girl and a Muslim boy. No such love exists. The only motive is of converting the girl to Islam,” says Yuvraj Dwivedi, the District General Secretary of the Kanpur East Zone of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal.
“They [Muslims] slaughter goats and chicken. Our sisters can’t even see that barbarity. How can they love them?” asks Dwivedi who boasts about having “stopped several conversions. “
Dwivedi wants the ruling BJP to criminalise conversion from Hinduism to any other religion. “VHP and Bajrang Dal are standing along with our sisters and protecting them. So, we are demanding that the government should make ‘love jihad’ laws harsher and take action to prevent any such instances from happening.”
Dwivedi openly says that they have been receiving government support.
“The response from the police has always been good. There is never any situation where the administration has not helped us. Because we are doing the right job.”
Ruby Dwivedi, a regional leader of Durga Vahini, the women’s wing of the VHP, in Uttar Pradesh emphasises that their organisation can go to any extent to stop Hindu girls from “falling prey” to Muslims.
“Initially we try to make them understand calmly because we are Hindu and peaceful. We are always into kindness. But we know other methods and systems of dealing with them too,” she add.
Ruby also said that Durga Vahini and VHP are providing “army like” training to Hindu girls to save them from ‘love jihad.’
“We train them in judo, karate, sword fighting, and other forms that are usually required for army men, so that they can protect themselves,” said Ruby. “In our area, we have trained 5000-6000 people. We organise regular camps in every district. We work daily to organise camps.”
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
Activists worry about the impunity.
“We have strong reasons to be afraid,” says John Dayal, human rights activist. Dayal is the General Secretary of All India Christian Council, an advocacy group for Christians, who make up roughly 3% of India’s population.
Dayal believes that the government has given a free pass to militant Hindutva organisations to harass minorities. In December 2022, Dayal also filed an impleadment application in the writ petition by BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyaya who filed a petition at the Supreme Court to halt alleged “forced conversions” of Hindus to other religions.
In the last two years, the Delhi high court and the Supreme Court itself dismissed three similar pleas on “forced conversions” filed by the same petitioner.
“There is no forced conversion. Hindus are the majority. They are ruling the country. More than 90% of the police force are Hindus. Almost all states are ruled by Hindus, with some exceptions. So, it’s absurd to say there is mass forced conversion,” Dayal says.
Experts cite population figures.
“Percentage of minority population in India has either remained same or increased marginally since the independence of country seven decades back. At the time of India’s independence, the population of Christians was 2% of the total. It still hovers around the same. So where have all those people who have converted to Christianity gone?” asks AC Michael.
Hanan Zaffar is a writer and filmmaker based in India. Shaheen Abdulla is a multimedia journalist based in New Delhi. He reports on Indian minorities.
The story was supported by the Human Rights and Religious Freedom Journalism (HRRFJ) grant programme.