JUDGMENT

N.V. RAMANA, J.

1. Aggrieved by the judgment and order dated 24th September, 2010 of the Division Bench of the High Court of Chhattisgarh, Bilaspur in Criminal Appeal No. 495 of 2005 maintaining their conviction and sentence under Section 302 read with Section 34, IPC, the appellants have filed this appeal by special leave.

2. Brief history of the case, as per prosecution case, is that Anita Jaiswal (deceased) was married to Umakant (appellant No.1) and after six months of the marriage, her husband and in-laws started harassing her to bring money from her father whenever she visits her parental home and also made a demand of Rs.50,000/- as dowry. She was also subjected to torture and cruelty every now and then by the husband and in-laws. On 2nd August, 2003, within one and a half years of her marriage, the appellant No. 1 (husband) beat her with an iron rod before night and while she was going to take bath in the morning, he caught hold of her and allegedly poured kerosene on her body. Appellant No. 2 (mother-in-law) set her ablaze by lighting a match stick.

The victim was imme