After 37 years in prison, India's longest-serving convict walks free on good conduct

Saibanna Lingappa Natekar, a 37-year inmate of Bengaluru's Parappana Agrahara Central Prison, was released on Saturday after being convicted in three murder cases. He was among 24 life convicts granted freedom on grounds of good conduct following long prison terms. Natekar is believed to be one of India's longest-serving prisoners.

Natekar, a high school dropout who worked as a clerk at a cooperative society, was first imprisoned for killing his first wife, Malkawwa, in 1988. He was convicted in 1993. While out on parole, he remarried. In 1994, he murdered his second wife, Nagamma, after allegedly finding her with another man, and their minor daughter, Vijayalakshmi, who reportedly tried to intervene. He was sentenced to death, and the Karnataka High Court upheld the sentence.

In 2005, Natekar filed a mercy petition that remained pending for over seven years. The prolonged delay, along with his illegal solitary confinement for more than a decade, became key grounds for legal intervention. In 2023, the High Court commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment, citing the inordinate delay in deciding his mercy plea, unlawful solitary confinement, his advanced age, and the more than 35 years he had already served.

Natekar's case has become a landmark in debates on prisoners' rights, delayed mercy petitions, and the constitutional limits of capital punishment.

Another prisoner released was Manikantha, from Chikkamagaluru, who spent 15 years in jail for murder. Speaking to media, he expressed regret and urged people not to let anger lead them into crime. During imprisonment, he worked in the prison bakery for ten years. His longtime girlfriend stood by him, and they married while he was on parole. They now have a four-year-old child. 'No one should commit a crime in a moment of anger,' he said, appealing for peace over violence.