Over 1,500 women, including actor Konkona Sen Sharma, lawyer Flavia Agnes, journalist Priya Ramani and activist Shabnam Hashmi, have written to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), raising concerns over Uttar Pradesh’s Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, commonly known as the ‘love jihad’ law.

In November, Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel had promulgated the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020, with the aim of prohibiting ‘unlawful conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, and allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage.