A case was filed against him in November last year and his anticipatory bail petition was dismissed by the Madras High Court on December 17, following which he had absconded to evade the apprehension.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the rate of sedition cases increased by 160% in recent times, while the conviction rate fell from 33.3% (2016) to 3.3% (2019).
The news hit the headlines across the nation on Thursday, hours after the Supreme Court has come down hard on the Union government and asked why it is using the colonial law.
The dramatic decline in the conviction rate in three years has revealed the exercise of flawed booking of sedition and illegitimate use of the law on the people across the country.
However, the elections didn't take place as ordered due to which the apex court had issued a fresh order to the election commission to conduct the polls by September 15.
While some judges had come to the court on Monday, others had conducted the hearings virtually from their residences as the second wave has pushed the apex court to take the baton of new normal.
Earlier, the Indian courts had pronounced the death sentence to some women including Nalini, the convict in the Rajiv Gandhi case but such sentences were later commuted to life.
The Supreme Court had on Wednesday termed the delay in the Governor's decision to release Perarivalan as extraordinary as the Tamil Nadu government had already recommended a remission.
A senior leader of the protesting unions said, "We welcome the court's order to stay the implementation of the farm laws, but we want a complete repeal of these laws".
