'Merely An Immature Misunderstanding' : Accused In Fake Lawyer Case To Kerala High Court In Pre-Arrest Bail Plea

The Kerala High Court on Thursday posted the pre-arrest bail of Sessy Xavier, who was alleged to have practised as an advocate for two years without completing her LL.B degree, after Court vacation

Justice K Haripal during the proceeding observed that the matter required a detailed hearing, and accordingly posted the matter for 31st August. 

The petitioner had approached the Court seeking anticipatory bail in the matter.

Advocate Roy Chacko appeared for the petitioner and submitted that there was no necessity for custodial interrogation. He added that the woman and her family members had already suffered adequate humiliation due to the episode.

The Counsel argued that the entire matter was merely an immature misunderstanding on the petitioner's part and that there was no malafide motive whatsoever. It was further submitted that the charge under Section 420 of IPC was added later on. 

Senior Government Pleader Neema T.V vehemently opposed the pre-arrest bail application for the reason that the applicant had posed herself as an advocate and appeared before several courts.

An impleading petition was also preferred by Advocate Pramod to impleaded as a Member of the Bar Council which filed the complaint. He submitted that all averments made in the bail plea were deceptive.

The Counsel also produced newspaper reports where the name of the accused was mentioned as the counsel for the petitioner to prove that she had represented litigants before several Courts. The photographs of the accused in an advocate's attire were also submitted before the Court. 

Background:

Sessy Xavier managed to practice as an advocate in the State for over two years, even without procuring an LL.B degree or enrolling with the State Bar Council. 

The police had registered a case under Sections 417 (cheating) and 419 (cheating by impersonation) of the IPC based on the complaint filed by Alappuzha Bar Association secretary Abhilash Soman claiming that she did not possess the required qualification and that she had presented a fake roll number of the Kerala Bar Council to the association.

She had joined the office of an established lawyer as a junior advocate. Claiming to have enrolled with the Bar Council, she applied for membership at the Aleppey Bar Association in March 2019, which she was given.

While so, the Bar Association received an anonymous letter on July 15 alleging that Sessy Xavier had no LL.B degree and enrollment certificate.

On enquiring with the Kerala Bar Council, the authorities of the Bar Association were surprised and shocked to note that the enrollment number given by Sessy Xavier belonged to another advocate, who was practising at Thiruvananthapuram.

Once the matter came to light, she went into hiding. The Police intensified the search for her, yet they could not locate the 27-year-old.

Meanwhile, members of the Alappuzha Bar Association had taken a decision not to appear for her before the court.

Case Title: Sessy Xavier v. State of Kerala