Love Jihad

Love Jihad

Date

Late 2000s – present

Location

India

Also known as

Romeo Jihad, Love Jehad

Type

Conspiracy theory, Islamophobia, moral panic

Theme

Interfaith marriage, religious conversion, demographic change

Target

Muslim men, interfaith couples

First reported

2007–2009

Organised by

Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, RSS, VHP, BJP

Outcome

Anti-conversion laws in multiple states

Love Jihad (also known as Romeo Jihad) is a term used to describe an alleged campaign by Muslim men to target non-Muslim women, particularly Hindu women, for conversion to Islam through seduction, feigned love, deception, or marriage. The concept is described as a conspiracy theory by international bodies and media outlets. It has been used by Hindu nationalist organisations and has been the subject of significant political and legal debate in India, particularly since the late 2000s.

The term "Love Jihad" first emerged as a concept in 2007, used by members of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), a Hindu nationalist organisation, while opposing interfaith couples in public spaces in Karnataka. The phrase gained wider prominence in 2009 during a court case in Kerala involving two non-Muslim girls who had eloped with their Muslim boyfriends. While hearing bail petitions, the presiding judge ordered a police investigation into what was termed the "Romeo Jihad/Love Jihad movement," marking the first legal mention of the term. A subsequent police inquiry found no evidence supporting the existence of such a movement.

Origin and History

The phrase "Love Jihad" appeared first as a conspiracy theory in 2009 by the Sanatan Prabhat and the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and was later picked up by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishva Hindu Parishad. The term gained national attention in 2009 when the Karnataka High Court directed police to investigate allegations of "love jihad" related to an interfaith marriage case. Following a thorough investigation, the police concluded that "there seems to be no prima facie evidence of 'love jihad'".

In 2009, the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council also played a role in amplifying the term, claiming that up to 4,500 women had been "conned into converting."

Legal Framework

In November 2020, Uttar Pradesh became the first Indian state to enact a law against "forced" or "fraudulent" religious conversions, commonly referred to as the "Love Jihad law." The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020, was promulgated with the approval of the Governor. According to the ordinance, a marriage would be declared null and void if a woman converts into another religion solely for the purpose of marriage.

The law was enacted in the backdrop of a concerted campaign by the Bharatiya Janata Party against "love jihad." However, the actual law made no reference to "love jihad" and was neutral in its scope. In 2021, while responding to Public Interest Litigations challenging the constitutional validity of its unlawful conversion law, the Uttar Pradesh government stressed that nowhere in the draft of the law had the term "love jihad" been employed.

In 2024, the Uttar Pradesh government introduced the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which proposed life imprisonment and fines up to ₹10 lakh for those found guilty of coercing religious conversions. The amendment also increased penalties for mass conversions to 7-14 years of imprisonment and a minimum fine of ₹1 lakh.

In Karnataka, the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Act, 2022, received the Governor's assent in September 2022. The law prohibits conversion "from one religion to another by use or practice of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage". Converting a minor, woman, or an SC/ST person attracts a jail term of 3-10 years.

As of January 2023, a total of 11 out of 28 Indian states, including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Madhya Pradesh, have enacted anti-conversion laws. These laws could render interfaith marriages, allegedly entered into for the sole purpose of conversion, null and void, carrying penalties of up to 5-10 years in prison.

Court Mentions of "Love Jihad"

Main article: Love Jihad cases

The number of court documents (judgments and orders) mentioning the term "Love Jihad" across major Indian High Courts, based on available data from Indian Kanoon and related reports, has been steadily rising in India since 2023:

Year	All Courts	Kerala High Court	Allahabad High Court	Madhya Pradesh High Court	Karnataka High Court	Bombay High Court
2009	1	1	0	0	0	0
2012	1	0	0	0	1	0
2013	1	0	0	0	1	0
2014	1	0	0	0	0	0
2015	1	0	0	0	0	0
2017	2	1	0	0	0	0
2018	1	0	1	0	0	0
2019	1	0	0	1	0	0
2020	1	0	0	0	0	0
2021	3	0	0	0	2	0
2022	5	0	0	0	1	3
2023	6	0	0	2	2	2
2024	8	3	0	2	0	0
2025	16	10	2	4	0	0
2026	4	0	2	0	0	0

Criticism and Impact

In December 2025, the NBDSA ordered five television news channels—India TV, News18 MP Chhattisgarh, Zee Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh, Zee News, and ABP News—to take down broadcasts in which they claimed that NCERT textbooks were promoting "Love Jihad." The controversy had erupted from a letter printed in an outdated Class III EVS NCERT book in a chapter called 'Chitti Aayi Hai' (letter has arrived), in which a woman named Reena was shown to have written a letter addressed to a man named Ahmed. The NBDSA noted that the programme structures "showed a lack of objectivity" and directed the broadcasters to take down the videos within seven days.

Demographic data from the Pew Research Center contradicts the premise of "love jihad." According to Pew, India's religious composition has remained stable since independence. Between 1951 and 2011, the Hindu population went from 84.1 per cent to 79.8 per cent, while the Muslim population only grew by 4.4 per cent from 9.8 per cent to 14.2 per cent. A comprehensive survey by the Pew Research Center found that religious conversion in India is extremely rare and largely balanced across communities. Only 0.4 per cent of Indians said they were raised Hindu but now identify as Christian, while 0.1 per cent reported switching from Christianity to Hinduism. According to the Pew Report, 99 per cent of married people in India share the same religion as their spouse.

International Perspective

The "love jihad" conspiracy theory has been compared to similar Islamophobic narratives in other countries. In Myanmar and Thailand, Buddhist nationalist groups have used similar rhetoric to claim that "love jihad" is a tool for Islamisation through mixed marriages. The concept has also been linked to contemporary white nationalist conspiracy theories and Western Islamophobia, featuring Orientalist portrayals of Muslim men as barbaric and hypersexual, and carrying paternalistic and patriarchal notions that Hindu women are passive and victimised.

In 2025, the Georgetown University Bridge Initiative noted that "love jihad" is a widely debunked conspiracy theory promoted by Hindu nationalists in India to incite fear, animosity, and violence against the country's 200 million Muslims. The theory has been heavily promoted by Hindu far-right groups, right-wing media, and leaders of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party. As a result of this conspiracy theory, Muslim men have been imprisoned, faced violent attacks, and killed.

See also

• Islamophobia in India
• Anti-conversion law
• Hindutva
• Religious conversion
• Interfaith marriage in India
• Demographic transition
• Hadiya case
• Freedom of religion in India
• Secularism in India
• Communalism (South Asia)
• Women's rights in India
• Human rights in India

Further reading

• Dalwai, Sameena (2023). Love Jihad: A Feminist Retelling. Penguin Random House.
• Ara, Ismat (2024). Under a Saffron Sky: Inside India's Crackdown on Love.