Strap: Police said the woman had been practicing law by submitting a fake vakalatnama to each court before representing a client

Mumbai: A 72-year-old woman was arrested on Saturday for impersonating a lawyer and practicing in the family court without proper authorization for decades. The woman identified as Mordekai Rebecca Joub alias Mandakini Kashinath Sohini had allegedly been practicing in various courts based on a fake lawyer’s license. While the police have said the licence is fake, it has now been forwarded to the Maharashtra and Goa Bar Council for further verification. The woman has been remanded in BKC police custody.

Police said the woman had been practicing law by submitting a fake vakalatnama to each court before representing a client. The police had issued her a summons in July after a lawyer from Borivali court identified as Akbarali Mohammed Khan challenged her credentials. However, Sohini, a resident of Pali Hill in Bandra, did not turn up.

On Saturday, Sohini went to the police station and submitted her degree along with her Aadhaar Card and Vakalatnama. Police officers said that her licence to practice law turned out to be fake. Police have now contacted the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa to verify the woman’s licence.

Officers said that as per the FIR, Sohini claimed that she has got a valid licence to practice and submitted the ‘Sanad’ or ‘licence’ number (MAH/253/1979). “Her licence number showed that she had been practicing with the licence that was issued to one lawyer Kanbeshwar Pandrinath Yashwant from Solapur. Later, she claimed that her genuine licence is (MAH/253/1979). When verified, this too turned out to be issued in the name of lawyer Suresh Rambhau Gurde from Amarvati,” said a police officer of the BKC police station.

Khan, 44, who stays in Borivali, had alleged that Sohini was not a lawyer and had been practising since decades in the family and other courts of Mumbai illegally. Khan was tipped off about Sohini practicing without a valid licence by a source in the family court after which he filed a written application with the BKC police. Sohini was produced before the Bandra holiday court on Sunday.

Advocate Sashi Nair, president of the bar council of family court, said that this practise is rampant in the family court. “There is an investigation going on at the family court about this and all the judges have made it clear that whoever appears for their client should attach their sanad (licence) along with the vakalatnama and submit it to the judge before representation,” said Nair.