evidence: The couples are fleeing laws that prohibit "unlawful" religious conversion in the context of marriage. Hard-line Hindu conservatives have labeled it "love jihad" — a conspiracy theory accusing Muslim men of wooing Hindu women to force them to convert to Islam. [...] The idea behind the "love jihad" laws is to halt forced conversions. But critics of India's Hindu nationalist government accuse it of amplifying an unfounded theory to consolidate Hindu votes across the country and spread hatred for Muslims. [...] "The term 'love jihad' is very dangerous, because once you get labeled like that, everyone starts looking at you with hatred. People think that you've wronged a woman from their community, so they want to punish you," Shameem says. "That's what makes it scary."