In a case that has confounded authorities in Kerala’s Alappuzha district, a woman managed to allegedly dupe the entire legal system and practice as an advocate for two years without an LLB degree and without having enrolled in the state bar council. Sessy Xavier has appeared as an advocate in several matters. This year, she even contested the Bar Association Election and got elected as the librarian. According to reports, she even appeared as an advocate commissioner appointed by the state, in a few matters.
According to Live Law, which reported the incident, the woman had managed to dupe the bar by working as a junior advocate in a well known lawyer’s office in Alappuzha. Prior to that, she had done an internship with the same lawyer after claiming that she was a final year LLB student. She then claimed to have enrolled with the bar council and in 2019, and applied to get into the Alappuzha Bar Association.
TNM spoke to a source in the Alappuzha Bar Association who said that Sessy had been working in the Alappuzha District Headquarters, which has over 10 courts, for the last 2.5 years. “She managed to escape notice as she had been interning with a reputed lawyer - Adv B Sivadas - in Alappuzha and had started her own practice later,” he said. Without being enrolled in the bar, she became a member of the Alappuzha Bar Association. She then contested to the executive position of the association and became the librarian in 2021.
However in July, the Bar Association was alerted with an anonymous letter which stated that the woman had no law degree or enrollment certificate. Upon enquiring and unearthing the facts, the association alerted the Chief judge of the district and filed a police complaint with the Alappuzha North Police station.
To become a member of the bar, an LLB degree holder has to enroll with any of the bar councils and get an enrolment number and certificate. Sessy was not enrolled with the Kerala State Bar Council as she was not qualified. “But she gave an enrolment number which belonged to another lawyer in Thiruvananthapuram.
“Sessy had created a fake document with the enrolment number K/1177/2018 which belonged to an advocate in Thiruvananthapuram. To become a member, the association asks for a copy of the enrolment certificate, gets the address verified and then charges a nominal sum as membership fee. Sessy’s fake document missed everyone’s attention,” he said.
The Thiruvananthapuram Bar Association has now filed a complaint with the local police stating that the Alapuzha Bar Association was misusing an enrolment number which belonged to it.
Following the expose, the association terminated her membership. The Alappuzha district judge was also alerted about the matter. A police complaint was filed by the association which further alleged that Sessy had taken certain books and documents from their library by misusing her position as the Bar Librarian.
On Thursday July 23, Sessy appeared before the court to surrender and get her bail. However the Alappuzha police had also included non-bailable sections such as 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property). She reportedly fled the court upon learning that she was booked under non-bailable offences. According to reports, the police have been unable to track her down so far.