Kerala High Court Denies Pre Arrest Bail To Fake Lawyer Sessy Xavier

The Kerala High Court on Friday refused to grant pre-arrest bail to Sessy Xavier, who had recently made the front page for posing as an advocate for two years without holding the essential qualifications. Justice Shircy V while dismissing the anticipatory bail application, directed the applicant to surrender before the authorities immediately and to cooperate with the investigation. Xavier had caught the attention of the State after having managed to practice as an advocate after enrolling with the State Bar Council without even qualifying for the LL.B degree.During her period of practice, she appeared before the courts in several matters on multiple occasions, which were evidenced by various newspaper reports. It was also uncovered that she had been appointed as the Advocate Commissioner in a few cases.Reports also suggest that she even contested in the Bar Association election this year and was elected as the Librarian.The deception came to light after the Bar Association received an anonymous letter on July 15 alleging that Xavier did not possess the requisite LL.B degree or an enrollment certificate.On enquiring with the Kerala Bar Council, the authorities of the Bar Association were shocked to note that the enrollment number given by her belonged to another advocate currently practising at Thiruvananthapuram.The police had registered a case 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.The matter took a dramatic turn when she attempted to surrender before the Magistrate in Alappuzha assuming that she would be released on bail. However, upon realising that she was charged with non-bailable offences, she fled the courtroom.Initially, the FIR registered against Xavier had charged her under Sections 417 (punishment for cheating) and 419 (punishment for cheating by personation) of the IPC, both of which are bailable offences.Subsequently, offences punishable under 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) was added, which is a non-bailable offence.Sessy Xavier had approached the court seeking anticipatory bail in the matter.Members of the Alappuzha Bar Association had meanwhile taken a decision not to appear for her before the court.During one of the earlier proceedings, the applicant had said that the entire matter was merely an immature misunderstanding on her part and that there was no malafide motive whatsoever.When Advocate Roy Chacko appearing for the applicant was making his submissions, he had referred to his client as an Advocate.Outraged at this, the Court had remarked,"Don't call her an advocate. She is not a lawyer. Do not use that term in your submissions."Read The Key Observations Of The Court Here. Case Title: Sessy Xavier v. State of Kerala Click Here To Read The Order

Kerala High Court Denies Pre Arrest Bail To Fake Lawyer Sessy Xavier

Hannah M Varghese

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