Plagiarism owes its derivation to the Latin word “Plagiary” which means to abduct/kidnap. Plagiarism is literally the act of marking someone else’s work/idea/writings as one’s own. Not only marking them as one’s own, but passing them off, too. In plagiarism, one’s original ideas/work is passed off by somebody else without authorization, and the original is kind of subsided.
As the planet is not free from malefactor, so is it not from civil wrong doers in the face of plagiarists. Being an upright member of a literary org, plagiarism has come across copious. The engrossing one l am to share.
Our org is in collaboration with a valley’s renowned self-publishing house, and in view of that collaboration our org was supposed to submit literary entries in short story and poetic genre, to the official blog of the self-publishing house. We had an entry in the short story genre, titled as “The view from the room”. After we figured it out in relation to a notable author of the valley, he acquainted, “Although, title is revamped but the entry is downright plagiarism of a well-known Canadian writer Robin Sharma’s original story”. And it was a horripilation to learn that the plagiarist is a columnist of a very well-read newspaper of the valley.
The ignominy by this plagiaristic act to our org inspired me to encounter with the plagiarist, and l wrote to him, “It is paining me to learn, as a writer you have merited wrath and disgrace. If you can’t do justice with others, do it with yourself…your pen, at least”.
A reply flashed on my mobile screen, readily, “There may be a tinge of imitation”.
With no chance left to brush him out, my fingertips lastly typed, “brother, there is a difference in between imitation and what we call plagiarism .Imitation is the action of using someone’s ideas/work, but as a modal .On the contrary ,plagiarism is un-authorization ,totally unacceptable to every single honest penholder”
Plagiarists are rapists who rape the intellectual morality of commendable literary figures. It is disgracing for the plagiarist and disheartening for the original potential document.
Scholarly researches have put forth plagiarism as “Theft of intellectual property”. It is not only an ethical offence but also an academic crime. Mostly regarded as misdemeanor, plagiarism is punishable by fines; anywhere from ₹ 100 to ₹ 50,000, and up to one year in jail. It is regarded as a felony under certain state and federal laws.

The most customary prevalent types of plagiarism are:
1)Direct plagiarism: It is word-for-word transcription. And it is for a particular section of somebody’s original work. Here, attribution and quotation marks are unfollowed.
2)Self-plagiarism: Usage of one’s own previous work in some other context, without citing that it was used earlier.
3)Mosaic plagiarism: It is the usage of synonyms for the actual work, where meaning remains unaltered.
4)Accidental plagiarism: It is unintentional paraphrase or misquote.
As per the Britannica definition of plagiarism, it is an act of forgery, piracy and fraud and is stated to be a serious crime in academia. It is also a violation of copyright laws. Whenever you counter such misdemeanor or unethical conduct, file charges against civil wrong. Plagiarism is more civil wrong, and practicing civil wrong over and again, automatically becomes a crime. Although, in India plagiarism is not regarded as a crime in general, but if plagiarism infringes an author’s intellectual property rights, including trademark or copyright: he becomes criminal who can be sued in a federal court.
Here, l am liking to highlight the way plagiarism is conceived and dealt in the US. Colleges, universities and such like professional entities are with certain authority to punish plagiarists in numerous ways, like…expulsion from college/ university, suspension, revoking the degree earned in the part by plagiarism.
And the laws are labelled as:
Copyright Law, SOPA (Stop online piracy act).
As per the laws of plagiarism in India are concerned:
“Section 57 of the Indian Copyright Act,1957 grants to the authors the “Special right” to be attributed for their work. It is a moral and a perpetual right in nature. That statute recognizes the right to attribution analogous to the rights not to be plagiarized”.
Section 63 of Indian Copyright Act,1957 considers infringement as a criminal offence.
Above all, l repeat that plagiarism only merits disgrace. Why grown- ups willfully and deliberately conceal the author’s name and invite disgrace and shame in a disguised misconception of a reward or success? Let’s put our hands together and dust the dust out.
Time to grow, but not just physically.

By : SAIMA JAMMAL
Author : Wolf & the Moon