From http://dev.bukkit.org/bukkit-plugins/fun-hard-mode/tickets/87-suggestion-zombies-kill-torches-underground/
Reported by bigscary:

I think this would be a great addition, because it manifests in a couple of interesting ways - players get used to the look of their favorite tunnels with torches included. When zombies sabotage torches over time, things start to look less familiar (hold on now, did I make a wrong turn? this doesn't look right...), and regular monster spawns resume.

I think it should be limited to underground, since if it were allowed above ground, griefers might lead zombies near other players' houses to remove torches.

Implementation suggestion:

Could be done similar to the gradual scanning of chunks after rainfall starts to remove exposed torches - create a recurring task which scans only a few zombies each time it executes. If the zombies are underground (under a set Y level), check the 10x10x10 centered on the zombie for torches, and drop them on the ground as items.

Diemex:
This is a great addition! There have been suggestions to let all torches burn out after a while, but I like this one a lot.

pilvimaa:
I'm a big fan of this idea.

I don't use the y-level torches burning out, I think it's too hardcore but this I like.

Could you put an adjustable y-level setting to this one so those surface torches don't get/can get griefed by zombies - which ever someone prefers.

I can already see those zombies shufling over torches and clumsily making them pop out (and running about with torches in hand) :-)

bigscary:
Yeah, I think this more limited option feels better - with all torches decaying over time, I think it's too much - players would have to repeatedly relight their homes.

Wow, that idea is so old! Why you still not added this to the plugin? This idea is awesome!!!

Owwwww, I get it now.

Not sure if you're aware of the history of this plugin. I only took over around March of this year. Also, since this is purely a feature request vs. a bug, it generally takes more time to plan out, implement, and then also test and fix any bugs resulting from adding the feature - which I currently do not have time to do at the moment.

People like vanmc are quite helpful in implementing features, see the QA we did in the closed Pull Requests tab when implementing the animal overcrowding feature.