The situation in India is increasingly dangerous and authoritarian: the governing BJP party in Uttar Pradesh enacted a law which gives the state unconscionable powers to prevent and punish inter-faith marriages.

Why? Because they back a conspiracy theory known as 'love jihad'.

This conspiracy theory, that there's a nefarious scheme to force the conversion of Hindu girls to Islam through marriage is patently absurd. For as long as India has been a multifaith country, there have been mixed marriages and conversions - my own family amongst them!

My grandmother (Hindu, now Muslim) married my grandfather (Muslim), my mother (Muslim) married my father (Hindu). No forced conversions, no jihad, just people enjoying their freedom to love - and subsequently divorce - who they like.

But this 'love jihad' law means that anyone who wants to change faiths has to apply to a government official 60 days in advance of their wedding so the police can investigate first, and the state retains the power to declare both marriages and conversions null and void.

What's more, conversions deemed 'fraudulent' or 'false' can now be punished with 10 years in prison in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

But who gets to decide whether a conversion is legitimate or not? Not the bride, who (if Hindu) is presumed to have no agency in the matter.

Because the burden of proof is on those who facilitated the conversation, including the spouse, to prove it *wasn't* coerced (how do you even do that?), power rests with those who disapprove of the match, whether that's family, the community, or extremist groups.

This law is unconstitutional, Islamophobic, and sexist - it treats Hindu women as property of the state, with no agency of their own. It undermines one of the most fundamental rights we have: to love who we choose and to choose our own faith.