Kerala Woman Who Faked Being A Lawyer Denied Pre-Arrest Bail

Sessy Xavier, a woman from Kerala who managed to practice law without a legitimate degree was denied anticipatory bail by Kerala High Court on Friday.

The woman had reportedly managed to fake being a lawyer for two years. She does not have a LLB degree neither is she enrolled in the bar council. Reports from August had stated that she cheated her way to bar councel elections and became the librarian. Justice Shircy V who denied her bail plea asked her to surrender to the police and cooperate with the police probe, according to reports.

Sessy had appeared in court on multiple occasions as a lawyer. As per reports, she was able to dupe the bar council by working on junior advocate's post at a lawyer's office in Alappuzha. She had also done her internship at the same firm where she claimed to be a law student. The woman had claimed that she had enrolled with the bar council and and applied to Alappuzha Bar Association.

How did Sessy Xavier get caught?

In July this year, the representatives of Bar Association reportedly received an anonymous letter revealing that Sessy does not have a law degree. The association informed about the same to Chief Judge of the district and also lodged a police complaint at the Alappuzha North police station.

It was later revealed that the woman had created a fake bar council enrollment number which belonged to some other lawyer in Thiruvananthapuram, as per a report by News Minute. Another police complaint was filed by Thiruvananthapuram Bar Association. In Alappuzha Bar Association's complaint they alleged that Sessy had misused her position as the librarian by taking certain documents and books from the library.

She has been charged under section 417 for cheating and 419 for cheating by impersonation under the Indian Penal Code. Both these offences are bailable. One other charge was put on her later, section 420 for cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property which is a non-bailable one. According to reports, Sessy was unaware of the third charge when she tried to surrender in court but she allegedly fled the scene after learning about section 420. She was on the run for some time and only appeared in court on July 29 to file the pre-arrest bail plea.