Acts of Violence? Anti-Conversion Laws in India
| Published date | 01 October 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/09646639241251613 |
| Author | M. Sudhir Selvaraj |
| Date | 01 October 2024 |
| Subject Matter | Special Issue: The Rule(s) of Law under HindutvaEdited by M. Sudhir Selvaraj, University of Bradford, UK and Raphael Susewind, London School of Economics, UKArticles |
Acts of Violence?
Anti-Conversion Laws
in India
M. Sudhir Selvaraj
Department of Peace Studies and International
Development, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK
Abstract
Extant scholarship on anti-Christian violence in India is scant and predominantly focuses
on physical violence. To address this gap, this article explores Freedom of Religion laws
(also referred to as anti-conversion laws) as an example of structural violence faced by
India’s Christians. Thus far, scholars have studied these as a constitutional violation that
denies a Christian’s freedom of religion. Using Johan Galtung’s violence framework, this
article seeks to recast these laws as a form of structural violence against Christians. In
doing so, it will show how Hindutva’s anxieties about the demographic and political
‘Christian threat’have become embedded into the law. Through an exploration of the
southern state of Karnataka, where the Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion
was passed in 2022, this article seeks to show how this structural violence interacts
and reinforces forms of direct and cultural violence, creating a system of anti-
Christian violence designed to maintain India’s‘Hindu majority’.
Keywords
Violence, Hindutva, Christians, conversion, anti-conversion laws
Introduction
Recent scholarship has portrayed India’sslide from a liberal democracy to an ‘ethnic dem-
ocracy’(Jaffrelot, 2021) or an ‘ethnocracy’(Roy, 2021, see IR ‘The Rule of Law in an
Corresponding author:
M. Sudhir Selvaraj, Department of Peace Studies and International Development, University of Bradford,
Bradford, UK.
Email: s.selvaraj2@bradford.ac.uk
Article
Social & Legal Studies
2024, Vol. 33(5) 790–807
© The Author(s) 2024
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/09646639241251613
journals.sagepub.com/home/sls
Ethnocracy’in this special issue), revealing the dominance of the Hindutva ideology in
India’s current social and political life. Hindutva conceptualises the nation as a land of
Hindus. On the other hand, Muslims and Christians are excluded and portrayed as ‘outsi-
ders’and ‘enemies’who pose a cultural and demographic threat to the ‘Hindu’nation.
This democratic backslide has accelerated since the ascension of the Bharatiya Janata
Party and Prime Minister Modi to office in 2014. Nielsen and Nilsen (2021) suggest that
this majoritarian cultural nationalism was spread in Modi’sfirst term between 2014 and
2019 through the proliferation of anti-minority hate speech and violence by
Hindutva-inspired vigilante groups. However, since 2019, significant steps have been
taken to embed this into the law at the state and national level (while the violence and
hateful rhetoric continue). The amendment to the Citizenship Act to allow refugees of all
religions (except Islam) from neighbouring countries to become Indian citizens (see IR
‘The rule of law in an ethnocracy’in this special issue for an in-depth case study), and
the removalof statehood of Kashmir, India’s erstwhileonly Muslim-majoritystate, bringing
it under thecontrol of the Central governmentserve as examples of thison the national level.
At the state level, a new wave of ‘Freedom of Religion’laws (subsequently referred to
as anti-conversion laws) has been passed. This article argues that these laws represent a
more holistic approach to tackling the ‘Christian threat’by limiting the perceived
problem of ‘conversions’away from Hinduism towards Christianity, and thereby, main-
taining India’s‘Hindu’majority. Thus far, scholars have studied these laws as a discrim-
inate constitutional violation which deprives an individual of the freedom to practice their
religion (Jenkins, 2008; Coleman, 2008; Bhat, 2021; see also YS and LJ ‘Legislation as
Disinformation’for a discussion of the legacy of these laws). Others have noted the add-
itional potency of these laws which stems from their ability to act as a form of ‘dog-
whistle legislation’to support and encourage the work of Hindutva-inspired vigilante
groups in the country (Nilsen, Selvaraj and Nielsen, 2024). Drawing on Johan
Galtung’s tripartite conception of violence (which includes direct, structural and cultural
violence), this article furthers this scholarship to suggest that anti-conversion laws con-
stitute a form of violence, particularly structural violence against Christians. Galtung’s
framework allows a more nuanced understanding of the experience of anti-Christian vio-
lence in the country by moving beyond actor-oriented conceptions and shedding light on
the structural forms, and the justifications for them. Beyond the recognition of multiple
forms of violence, Galtung’s framework allows us to see the interconnections between
them. Showing these connections helps make structural and cultural violence more
visible and directs our political action to the ways in which these forms travel and trans-
form. As an illustrative case, this article will consider the system of anti-Christian vio-
lence in the southern state of Karnataka which passed the Protection of Right to
Freedom of Religion Act in 2022. Beyond just the law, the case sheds light on the extra-
judicial involvement of vigilante groups in justifying the need for and enforcement of
these laws which has unfolded in the state over the past 15 years.
The analysis for this article draws from a wide range of data. It includes a close reading
of all state anti-conversion legislation which has been passed in India, related Supreme
Court Rulings and related government reports such as the Niyogi Commission report.
To expound on the system of anti-Christian violence in Karnataka, government and
civil society reports, and media reports have been used. These data were complimented
Selvaraj 791
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