India, Feb. 19 -- A country has now legally allowed men to beat their wives, seemingly being considered at par with being "slaves". No, this is not a script of a dystopian television show showing the plight of women in a regressive society (read The Handmaid's Tale), this is now the reality of the women in Afghanistan under the Taliban rule.

According to a new 90-page criminal code signed by Taliban's supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Afghan society would effectively be divided into upper and lower members, with their religious leaders, also called mullahs, placed above the law and shielded from any kind of criminal prosecution in the country and 'slaves', who would be at the mercy of the upper members, reported Independent.

As ...