SECTION 109 DETAILS(ELEMENTS OF ABETMENT)URDU/HINDI LECTURE PAKISTAN PENAL CODE.ADV WAQAR UL HASSAN.

Abetment basically means the action of instigating, encouraging or promoting a person into committing an offence. It can also mean aiding the offender while he is committing a crime. When more than one person contributes to committing an offence, each person's involvement may vary.
Definition of Abetment:
Abetment is a preparatory act and connotes active complicity on the part of the abettor at a point of time prior to the actual commission of the offence”. According to u/S. 107, PPC.According to section 109 of Indian penal code, Whoever abets any offence shall, if the act abetted is committed in consequence of the abetment, and no express provision is made by this Code for the punishment of such abetment, be punished with the punishment provided for the offence.
A person not committing a crime himself, may still encourage, urge, command, request, induce or assist a third party in committing the wrong and as a result of such commission be guilty of the offence of abetment. The meaning of abetment as has been given in Corpus Juris Secundum is:

“To abet has been defined as meaning to aid; to assist or to give aid; to command, to procure, or to counsel; to countenance; to encourage, counsel, induce or assist, to encourage or to set another on to commit.”[1]

The Indian Penal Code therefore while using the word ‘abetment’, distinguishes the person abetting the commission of an act and the person who is the actual perpetrator of the action.

Chapter V of the Indian Penal Code deals with the offences related to abetment. The English have similar laws governing the liability of person involved in abetting the commission of an offence. The English law has categorized three types of accessories involved:

Accessories before fact
Accessories at the fact
Accessories after the fact
Further, there are parties known as ‘Principals in the first degree’ who are directly connected with the perpetrating the crime i.e. by themselves or by using an innocent agent. ‘Principals of second degree’ are the persons who abet and assist the principle offender, and who may be actually or constructively present at the scene of a crime.

IPC recognises both the principals of second degree and accessories at the fact denoting essentially the same kind of offenders and has termed them as abettors in Chapter V.

II. Abetment of a thing: S. 107
Section 107 provides for abetment of a thing and the ingredients required to constitute the abetment of such thing by a person are:

Instigation of another to commit such thing
Engaging with one or more persons to do that thing by conspiring
Aiding by act or by illegal omission with an intention to do that thing
An offence of abetment, therefore, may constitute instigation, intentional aid or conspiracy. This Section makes the abetment of a ‘thing’ an offence and not necessarily an abetment of an ‘offence’. This means abettor can be made solely liable in some cases, although the person who has been abetted may be completely innocent.

It is important to note that the offence of abetment can only be established if the existence of mens rea is proved. The provisions related to the offence of abetment require the presence of knowledge about the act and its effect thereof before a conviction can be made.

If a person lending his support, does not know or has no reason to gauge that the act which he is assisting for is a criminal act, the implications thereof cannot bind him and he cannot be called an abettor.[2] However, the presence of mens rea is not an absolute pre-condition to establishing the offence of abetment as there could be instances where a statute explicitly mentions regarding it.

For example, sell of obscene books under section 292, IPC or where strict liability exists in social legislations or public welfare, mens rea is not required.

Instigation
The meaning of ‘instigate’ is to incite, urge, provoke or bring about by persuasion to do anything which the law prohibits.[3] The act of instigating a person could take any form. It may be by conduct.[4] There must be a proximate causal connection between instigation and the act committed as a result.[5] Also, a person may be instigated by suggesting, stimulating, supporting, hinting or insinuating the commission of the act.[6]

The instigation must be related to the thing that was committed and not with the thing that was likely to have been done by the person in pursuance of instigation.