It means taking or appropriation. Energy may be dishonestly abstracted by artificial means or unauthorised devices. For instance, energy before it passes through a consumer's meter may be abstracted from the main of the electric company by an unauthorised wire conecting the main with a private terminal, the connecting wire is the artificial means for abstraction. Again, by tampering with the meter and causing it to record less than than the units actually passing through it the consumer may take the unrecorded energy without paying for it. The tampering of the meter and the taking of the unrecorded energy are unauthorised by the contract with the electrical company, the unauthorisede taking is an abstraction and the crippled meter is an artificial means for abstraction. jagannath Singh v. B.S. Ramaswamy, AIR 1966 SC 849: (1966) 1 SCR 885: 1966 Cri LJ 697.