Dr Saumya Saxena

Saumya Saxena’s research focused on family law and religion in India.

Academic interests

Saumya Saxena’s academic interests include: 

• Gender history
• Law, legal history
• Politics
• South Asia.

Degrees obtained

• BA (Honours), Delhi University.
• MSc, Oxon.
• MPhil, Cantab.
• PhD, Cantab.

Awards and prizes

• British Council’s Alumni Award for Professional Achievement, 2018.

Biography

Saumya Saxena’s research focused on family law and religion in India. She is interested in the interface between law, policy, and society and was part of the Law Commission of India (2016-2018) where she researched on amendments to religious personal laws in India. She was part of the research team that assisted the Justice Verma Committee (2013) on amendments to rape laws in India. She has taught subjects related to gender, social movements, and Indian politics.

Saumya Saxena is a legal historian specialising in family law, religion and gender politics in India. She writes on women’s rights movements, religion and law in late 20^th and 21^st century South Asia. Her research brings into conversation a number of archives and analyses how issue of religious personal law contributed to the unique evolution of both, the rule of law, and the doctrine of secularism in India. She is a British Academy postdoctoral fellow 2018-2021.