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Ph.D University of Cambridge

M.Phil University of Cambridge  

MSc. University of Oxford

B.A (Hons.) Delhi University
 

Prof. (Dr.) Saumya Saxena

Associate Professor

Email saumya.saxena@jgu.edu.in
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ORCID ID 0000-0002-9104-8530

Ph.D University of Cambridge

M.Phil University of Cambridge  

MSc. University of Oxford

B.A (Hons.) Delhi University
 

Biography

Dr Saumya Saxena is an Associate Professor at the Jindal 91视频 Law School. Her research interests include legal history, gender, family law, religion and secularism in South Asia. Her book, 'Divorce and Democracy: A history of personal law in post-independence India' was published by Cambridge University Press in 2022. Formerly, she was a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow and Affiliated Lecturer at the Faculty of History, University of Cambridge (2018-2023). 

She is also interested in legislative drafting and policy and has advised on the Justice Verma Commission, 2013, on amendments to laws on sexual violence against women in India, the 21st Law Commission of India (2016-2018), on family law reform in India and the Forced Marriages Commission, United Kingdom in 2019.
 
Her current research focusses on the legal history of superstition in India. She has a visiting fellowship at the Chinese University Hong Kong (2026-2027). 

  • Gender, Caste, and Society 
  • History
  • Legal History
     
  • University of Cambridge, Vice Chancellor’s Research Impact and Engagement Award, (Early Career Researcher), 2019.
  • British Council Alumni Award for ‘Professional Achievement’, 2018.
  • British Academy’s (Postdoctoral Fellowship) Award in recognition of outstanding academic merit, 2018.  
  • University of Hong Kong Faculty Conference Support Scheme, 2020.  
  • Intellectual Forum Conference Fund, Jesus College, University of Cambridge 2022.  
  • George Macaulay Trevelyan Conference Fund, Faculty of History, University of Cambridge 2016.  
  • Charles Wallace India Trust, India, 2015.  
  • Funds for Women Graduates, UK, 2015.  
  • Leche Trust Funding Award, 2015.  
  • Political Economy Society Trust, University of Cambridge, 2015. 
  • Smuts Memorial Fund for Research Support, Cambridge, 2014.
     
  • National Law School of India University: Law School Policy Review 
  • National Academy of Legal Studies and Research, University of law (NASLSAR) ‘Locating the (Why) Not of the UCC: A Legal Historian's Perspective (Dr. Saumya Saxena)’ 
  • Scroll.in ‘Uniform Civil Code V Personal Law: Interview With Legal Historian Saumya Saxena’ 
  •  Saumya Saxena on her book, Divorce and Democracy: A History of Personal Law in Post-Independence India. The Leaflet (2022)
  •  New Indian Express (2024)
  •  Hindustan Times (2023)
  •  Scroll.in (2023)
  • The Leaflet (2022)
  •  The Wire (2020)
  • Hindustan Times (2018)
  •  The Wire (2018)
  •  The Indian Express (2018)
  •  The Indian Express (2017)
  •  DailyO (2017)
  •  Scroll.in (2017)
  •  Live Law (2017)
  •   NDTV (2016)
  •  Politico Nation (2016)
  •  Live Law (2016)

Saxena, Saumya, 'Hinduism and the Indian State' (25 June 2026), Oxford Bibliographies in Legal History (New York, NY, online edn, Oxford Academic.)

Saxena, Saumya. 鈥淧olicing Sati: Law, Order, and Spectacle in Post-independence India.鈥� Law and History Review (2023)1-23.

Saxena, Saumya, and Alastair McClure. Law and History Review 41, no. 2 (2023): 241-251.

Saxena, Saumya. Cambridge University Press (2022).

鈥楧ivorce and Democracy鈥�,January 31, 2022.

Saxena, Saumya. 鈥楴ikah Halala: The petition, the promise, and the politics of personal law鈥� in Tanja Herklotz and Siddharth Peter De Souza (ed.) Mutinies for equality: contemporary developments in law and gender in India Cambridge University Press (2021).

Saxena, Saumya. 鈥淐ommissions, Committees, and Custodians of Muslim Personal Law in Post-independence India.鈥� Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East3 (2018): 423-438.

Saxena, Saumya. 鈥淐ourt鈥檌ng Hindu nationalism: law and the rise of modern Hindutva.鈥� Contemporary South Asia26, no. 4 (2018): 378-399.

McClure, Alastair, and Saumya Saxena. 鈥淚ntroduction: Law and Legality in Modern Indian History.鈥� Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East38, no. 3 (2018): 367-374.

Law Commission鈥檚 Consultation Paper on Family Law Reform, August, 31, 2018.

Law Commission Report on Compulsory Registration of Marriages, July 4, 2017.

Law Commission Report on Hate Speech Law, March 23, 2017

Saxena Saumya. 鈥淗uman rights and state-enforced religious family laws in Israel, Egypt and India by Yuksel Sezgin.鈥� Book Review Jindal 91视频 Law Review1, no. 7 (2016): 113-116.

Saxena Saumya. 鈥淩einvention of Communal Identities and Implications for Democracy.鈥� Economic & Political Weekly34 (2013): 47.

Justice Verma Committee Report on Amendments to Criminal Law, Ministry of Home Affairs, January 29, 2013.
Email saumya.saxena@jgu.edu.in
ORCID ID 0000-0002-9104-8530