Ravi: Wrong and right as you say ar relative terms it depends largely, as they say on 'whose ox is gored' If either a second person is hurt by one's action or if society is compromised people will take notice. What I unwittingly did is something related to the latter point. But, knowing what the consequence would  have been if I had reported, to my friend, I probably did the right thing, but still I felt guilty right through the summer holidays, particularly if someone had noticed some word for word similarity in our answer papers.

G Gopal,

I look at this philosophicallly.Wrong and  right are all terms relative to times and situations.

I also like this sayiing " small things do not matter; nothing in this world is big enough to matter ".

Practically speaking what you did was right according to me.I would have done the same.

Ravi.

Thank you Bina: However, my friend knew if he had asked I would have said no, so he just grabbed it, figuring that I would stay mum: shich I did !
Rgds, Girdhar

GGji
interesting dilemma- had my paper copied partially n only recall the fast beating heart n 
pulse due to fear of being caught. also in french a close friend simply wrote the song
"someone else is in your arms tonight" by cliff richard and passed!!! guess the teacher
who corrected our papers was sick of all mistakes n enjoyed this diversion from
mutilated n strangled french
bina
ps at that age there are no choices but to stick to yr friend

Keshav: Thank you for your input. I think I will draw the line on what I consider a serious crime, anything that seriously  affects other people.
Rgds, Girdhar

Interesting dilemma :-)

Since you ask, I would have done exactly the same as you did. Kept mum.
 
Let me tell you why.
He took the paper without asking, you did'nt give it of your own volition. So the crime (stealing) was committed by him.
At the most, your crime was one of omission as you did not report the crime. This is at best a moral offense. It was the duty of he invigilators to prevent / detect the actual crime. 

Your job at the time was to appear for the examination, which you did to the best of your ability.

cheers,

Keshav

Aditi: Thank you for your comments. On balance, I think, I will do it again, given the same circumstances, but tell the person he is no longer my friend as he compromised me without my permission. However, for a more serious crime where other people are affected I think friendships will have to be sacrificed. There was a person called the unibomber in the US whose brother finally exposed him. The unibomber was responsible for killing people and the brother decided there was a limit to personal relationships.
Rgds, Girdhar

Hi Mr Girdhar Gopal,

My answer. Perhaps exactly as you had handled it. Loyalty and solidarity  in friendship comes first. I have taken punishments in school for not reporting on a mischief-maker. Once in the junior school, the teacher had written on my paper 'copied from S', when it was S  who had copied from me, but I kept quiet, though as you can see, so many decades down the line, hahah... I still have not forgotten the incident.  

Regards,

Aditi

Tanushri: The intention to save was only after he grabbed my answer book. I did  not report him that was the extent of my saving..
Rgds, Girdhar

Hi Girdhar,
You saved your friend and I guess that was a choice you made...may be I'd have done the same, in a similar situation....