Woman on the run after being exposed for practicing law, winning Bar election without LLB

In a series of events that could inspire the plot of a movie, a woman is Kerala has been exposed for practicing law for years allegedly without a law degree. After a case was registered against her, she is currently on the run from Police..According to reports, the woman has been identified as one Cessy Xavier, a 27-year-old from the district of Alappuzha. The Alappuzha Bar Association received an anonymous letter earlier this month which said that Xavier did not have the necessary qualification to practice law..It is also rumoured that she had concocted an elaborate story of having started her LLB studies from Thiruvananthapuram before completing the same from Bangalore..Upon further enquiries, it was found that the roll number she submitted to the Bar Association belonged to another person and Xavier had never even registered with the Kerala Bar Council. The Bar Association swiftly terminated her membership and issued notice, to which Xavier is yet to respond.Subsequently, they filed a complaint in this regard to the Alappuzha North Police..However, she hid her deception successfully for two years, in which time, she won a Bar Association election and even got appointed as the Librarian. The Association, in the complaint filed with the Police, alleged that she had also stolen some rare books and other documents from the library..The Police have registered a case against her under Sections Sections 417 (punishment for cheating), 419 (punishment for cheating by personation), and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code..On Thursday, Xavier, appeared before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-I in Alappuzha to surrender where she reportedly came to know that some of the charges registered against her were for non-bailable offences..In a dramatic turn of events, Xavier fled from the Court premises as Police arrived and the Police are still tracing her whereabouts. .68 Lawyers with fake degrees, over 15,000 law degrees unverified: Bar Council of Delhi writes to BCI [Read Letters].In November, 2019, the Bar Council of Delhi had faced a similar issue where the law degrees obtained by several lawyers on its rolls appeared to be fake.

Woman on the run after being exposed for practicing law, winning Bar election without LLB

Giti Pratap

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