Legal issues with cousin marriage and change of religion

PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY. ----------- I and my cousin love eachother and have decided to marry eachother. we are hindu because our parents are hindus. we have same sirname because our fathers are distant cousins. however our mothers are sisters. does it makes us first cousins? my cousin is 17 and i am 24. we are both intelligent. even though she is 17 she is intelligent and we will not marry until she turns 18. our problem is her parents. they are planning to get her forcefully married to a stranger. they don't care about her happiness one bit. it scares us both very much. i want to marry her and protect ourselves from her parents. i need legal help regarding the same. please answer following questions in order. ----------- 1. i have read on various boards on internet that cousin marriage is illegal in india, especially under hindu marriage act. but we are not religious and we dont follow religious values of hinduism whatsoever. now is there a possibility for us to marry without changing our religion and not face legal problems from her parents? I have read that even if we get our marriage registered it will stand void HOWEVER nobody can challenge our living together. is that true? please dont answer that our marriage will be void. i already know it is void. my question is can we live together without interference from our parents from a legal stand point? ----------- 2. IF IT IS IMPOSSIBLE for us to live together without legal objections from parents by staying hindus, we are more than ready to convert to christianity or islam. but i have read conflicting answers about that too. we dont care about religion or which marriage act we can get married under as long as we can live together peacefully without legal interference from her parents. so my question is should we covert to christianity or islam? i am asking this because we want to marry legally in the least complicated way. i have read in some forums that even christians cant marry their cousin but some other lawyers say it is not possible for christians too. please dont give contradicting answers. we just want to live with each other peacefully. if coverting to islam give us that freedom we are ready to convert to it. can you please be sure it is the way? ----------- 3. what is the STEP BY STEP procedure to covert our religion to islam? ----------- 4. can we covert our religion anywhere in india or only in our hometown? ----------- we are getting married through an organisation called love commandos who have promised to help us get our marriage registered within one day. ----------- 5. do we require to change our name to muslim names inorder to be converted to islam? we prefer to keep our names unchanged since changing our names will give us more problems to deal with, including getting our names changed in all our legal documents like marks cards, adhar cards, passport etc. so please tell us we can convert to islam wothout change of names. ----------- PLEASE KEEP IN MIND her parents are extremists and they will do anything they can to forcefully get her married to some stranger. my cousin is very naive and innocent. and they will feed her to all kinds of sexist, pervert, fraud guy who doesn't respect women. her parents dont have knowledge of outer world. they will hurry and ruin my cousins life. you know how most men are these days, dominantly sexist, treating wife like slave, not knowing what true love is, just like my parents with theirt ugly mindsets. it scares us like hell. ----------- will the procedure to change religion to islam be done without alerting our parents and within least time period? please answer this in detail step by step. ----------- 6. please give the most quickest and legal way for us to follow inorder to be together like the way we have right to as two independent adults. ----------- 7. how can i protect my cousin to stop her forceful marriage in case her family forces her first. please answer with details. ----------- please answer all questions honestly and truthfully and guide us in CORRECT DIRECTION SO THAT WE DONT FACE PROBLEM IN FUTURE.