Lucknow, Aug 11 - While parents routinely pray for their children's long life and prosperity, a couple in Uttar Pradesh has written to President Pratibha Patil pleading for the mercy killing of their four physically-challenged sons.

Jeet Narayan and his wife Prabhavati, residing in Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh, pleaded for mercy killing for their sons, aged 10-16 years, as they are stricken with muscular dystrophy.

'My sons are in utter discomfort... I cannot see their helplessness any more. So, I have written to the president that my sons be killed through euthanasia,' Narayan said.

'My sons cannot even stand on their feet. They are unable to move their body parts below the neck... I see their distress everyday. Now when doctors too have lost hope, I want they should die... Death would be the ultimate solution for all their sufferings,' added Narayan, a farmer in Bashi village of Mirzapur, some 300 km from Lucknow.