evidence: On January 6, the Supreme Court of India declined to stay controversial laws recently enacted in several states to tackle "love jihad" – a baseless conspiracy theory accusing Muslim men of luring Hindu women into marriage with the aim of forcefully converting them to Islam. [...] By allowing the so-called "love jihad" laws to remain in force, the Supreme Court increased the vulnerability of India’s Muslims, who are already subject to immense discrimination and religious persecution under the rule of Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). [...] "Love jihad" is not a new conspiracy. Since the 19th century, far-right Hindutva groups in India have been baselessly claiming that Muslim men are predatory. That they are working to seduce Hindu women to convert them to Islam. That they want to use Hindu women’s wombs to produce Muslim babies and alter the demographics of the Hindu-majority country.