Introduction
Incomplete offenses are referred to as inchoate offenses. The term inchoate means “unfinished” or “underdeveloped.” These actions are not full offenses since they occur during the conduct of the ultimate crime. It contributes to or facilitates the final crime. Mens Rea and Actus Reus are the two most important components for offenses. Mens rea implies a guilty intention to conduct a crime. And Actus Reus is the actual commission of the act.
It is not the principal offense for which the individual is punished in such cases. It is the measures taken to commit the crime that is considered illegal and hence penalized. The conduct is not deemed as terrible as the ultimate crime planned to be committed by the individual in this country. Thus the punishment for such offenses is not as severe as the actual offense.
Types of Inchoate Offences
Abetment
When a person does not conduct a criminal but instead persuades another person to commit a crime, such offenses are referred to as abetment. The Indian Penal Code of 1860 covers this offense in Chapter V. The definition of abetment is defined under Sections 107 and 108 of the IPC. According to these provisions, any person abates a doing of a thing when he initiates, engages in, or assists in the doing of a thing by any act.
The act of inciting, encouraging, or assisting is viewed as actus reus in abetment, and the motive behind doing so is related to mens rea. As a result, abetment meets both of the conditions required to be classified as an offense. However, it is critical that the conduct of inciting, persuading, or assisting shows that the individual intends to commit the offense. Abetment can be through incitement, illegal omission, conspiracy, and through assistance.
Attempt
The term “attempt” is not defined explicitly in the Indian Penal Code of 1860. However, in Chapter XXIII of the IPC, the punishment for attempting to commit an offense is imprisonment or life imprisonment, depending on the circumstances. There are four phases to committing a crime:
- Intention to commit a crime.
- Preparation for the Completion of the Crime.
- Attempt to Commit Crime.
- The actual commission of the Crime.
IPC responds to the attempt in three ways:
- In certain situations, the commission of the offense and its attempted commission are dealt with in the same section and punished in the same way. Sedition, for example, is punishable under Section 124 A of the IPC offense.
- All additional offenses are not covered by the previous two categories. This is stated in Section 511 of the IPC, which states the penalty of life imprisonment or simple imprisonment for committing such an offense.
- All additional offenses are not covered by the previous two categories. This is stated in Section 511 of the IPC, which states the penalty of life imprisonment or simple imprisonment for committing such an offense.
Conspiracy
A conspiracy occurs when two or more people agree to do an illegal act and then take steps to carry it out. This differs from an attempt in that a person can be prosecuted with both conspiracies to commit the crime. And the crime itself if the crime is successfully committed.
Criminal conspiracy is stated in Chapter V, Sections 120 A and 120 B of the Indian Penal Code. It specifies that the conduct must be done by two or more people who have agreed to commit an illegal act or a legitimate act using illegal methods. This is an inchoate offense since the crime does not have to be completed.
Defences for Inchoate Crimes
- Abandonment- In this defence, the accused claims that he had given up on doing the crime. He may have been engaged in the plot, but he did not prepare for or attempt to conduct the crime. To establish this defence, the individual must demonstrate that he willingly and totally abandoned his attempts to perpetrate the offence.
- Impossibility- The defendant might use the impossibility of carrying out the crime as a defence. This defence has seen significant modifications in several areas. These impossibilities might arise from two sources: Legal and Factual Impossibility.
- Legal- If the defendant asserts that the conduct he meant to perform or attempted to commit is not a criminal under the law, he might raise the defence of legal impossibility.
- Factual- Because of the circumstances of the case, the defendant’s act becomes impossible to commit. In this case, the conditions evolve in such a way that no crime may be committed.
Conclusion
Inchoate crimes do not consider the intersection of the necessary mens rea to commit a crime and the following actus reus, which is the conduct of that crime. Such inchoate crimes are ones in which the regular norms of criminal law have been altered to assist the commission of such a crime.
Edited by Megha Jain.
