Indian-American makes move to change California law on rape
Indian-American Attorney General of California Kamala Harris and State lawmakers have joined hands to overturn a 140-year-old law under which a rape would be considered only if the victim is married.
The move comes after a three-year-old rape conviction was overturned by a Los Angeles court last week because California's law would have only considered the woman a victim if she had been married.
"This law is arcane and I will work with the Legislature to fix it," said Harris, the first Indian-American and a woman to have become the Attorney General of California.
"The evidence is clear that this case involved a nonconsensual assault that fits within the general understanding of what constitutes rape," she said.
Appearing on the CNN, Harris said the lawmakers so far had been resisting any move to change this 1872 law – passed seven years after civil war – simply because this would increase the already overcrowded prison population of California.
"We will fix the problem. This is about a women who is raped and deserves justice," Harris said.
Existence of such an outdated law is quite contrary to the modern law of the State. California was the first American State to specify the use of chemical castration as a punishment for child molestation.
Kamla Harris is now joined by the State lawmakers.
Assemblyman K H "Katcho" Achadjian, who had unsuccessfully tried to change this law, and California Assembly Speaker John A Pérez, reintroduced a bipartisan legislation yesterday to what they said, close an archaic loophole in state law and expand the
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