In a fresh incident of professional fraud in Cachar, a man practising as a lawyer with forged credentials has been sentenced to imprisonment by the district court. The convict, Altaf Hussain Barbhuiya of Saidpur Part 4 under Sonai, was found guilty of fabricating educational documents to enrol himself as an advocate.
On Wednesday (November 26), the Court of First Class Judicial Magistrate–IV, presided over by Dr. B. Hussain Mazumdar, awarded Hussain six months of imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹10,000. Failure to pay the fine will result in an additional three months in jail.
The case traces back to 2008, when doubts emerged over Hussain’s educational qualifications. Though he practised for years as a member of the Advocates’ Bar Association, his degree was questioned after inconsistencies surfaced.
A complaint filed by the Bar Association alleged that Hussain had never cleared his LLB exams, contradicting his claims of passing with first division. Verification from Karimganj Law College confirmed that while he attended classes briefly, he never sat for or qualified in the final examination. His certificate was officially declared fake.
Based on this, an FIR was lodged, and police registered a case that proceeded to trial. The matter first went before the Additional CJM and was later transferred to the Court of Judicial Magistrate First Class–IV, where the conviction was delivered.
Reacting to the verdict, Bar Association President Ashok Ray appreciated the ruling but argued that the punishment should have been harsher considering the gravity of the offence. He added that the Association plans to appeal for a stricter sentence. It also emerged that shortly before the forgery came to light in 2008, Altaf Hussain had won a local panchayat election, further intensifying the controversy surrounding him.
