Abetment vs Conspiring - When the Conspirators Fall Silent

Many students get this one wrong, even the so-called toppers, when they read "A" (Abetment) and "B" (Conspiracy) as one and the same. They think, why not, if two people conspire and one of them does the deed, it's all abetment, right? Wrong. In this case, read Section 120B of the IPC carefully. It says, "If two or more persons agree to do an act of the nature mentioned in Sections 399 or 400...". Here's the twist - it's not about the act itself, but what they planned to do. The problem is, in a conspiracy, the conspirators are required to do something in furtherance of the criminal object, Section 120A. If they're silent, just agreeing to do it later, it's not a conspiracy.