BHOPAL: A court in

district sentenced two men and their wives to life imprisonment for burning their elderly mother alive after tying her to a tree.

The court of additional district and session's judge, Begumganj, BR Yadav said in his judgement that all the four should atone in jail for their lives for the heinous crime. Public prosecutor Badri Gupta said the incident had taken place at Nadpur in 2017.

The deceased was 60-year-old Hari Bai. "She had given all the land to her sons Uma Shankar, (28), and Dheeraj, (24). But, later a dispute emerged as both the sons did not take care of their mother and she wanted to take her land back from them", Gupta said.

Hari Bai, on October 16, 2017, had hired a tractor for sowing her land but both the sons started a dispute and did not let her sow the land and subsequently she was forced to call the police, Gupta said.

"But, when cops arrived, the mother forgave her sons and requested them not to take actions against them. Yet on the same night, the two sons tied her to a tree and doused her with kerosene and with the help of their wives Suman and Devki and set her ablaze. She later died during treatment," Gupta said.

A case was registered and all the four were arrested and produced before a court. Hari Bai had one more son Tulsiram and a daughter Baijanti Bai and both of them also appeared before the court claiming that their mother was mentally unstable and they want to save their siblings.

"They had brought an orthopaedic doctor to claim that their mother was mentally unstable but the court rejected their arguments and sentenced all the four with life imprisonment," Gupta said.