Pak hackers helped by Indian to deface SC website

The boys – Saim Ali Shah and Salal Ali Shah – who allegedly hacked the website last month were arrested at Kohat in the country's northwest after they were traced by investigators using advanced technology.

The investigators said it was "disturbing that the crime had been committed in collusion with an Indian national," Dawn newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying. The boys defaced the apex court's insignia by placing currency notes on the scales of justice and inserted derogatory and abusive remarks against the judiciary while hacking the website on September 29.

After the Supreme Court's information technology section reported the matter to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, it was taken up by the Cyber Crime Wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

Investigators then traced and arrested the boys, who are members of the "Cyber Army and Pak Bugs." The boys were also allegedly involved in the recent hacking of the Cyber Crime Wing's website.

Cyber crimes have been on the rise in Pakistan since the lapse of a cyber crime ordinance about a year ago. There are no signs that the government intends to re-promulgate the ordinance and most criminals go unpunished by taking advantage of the absence of a law.

In a related development, the Rawalpindi-based court of Additional Sessions Judge Tanvir Akbar has rejected the bail plea of the two hackers. Sources said the bail was not granted by the judge in view of the magnitude of the crime.

The counsel for the boys could not produce documentary evidence in support of their claim that they are minors and could not be kept behind bars under the juvenile justice system.

The only argument the counsel advanced was that action against his clients was mala fide. Tariq Bilal, legal adviser to the Cyber Crime Wing, said the FIA had no animosity with the accused and they were arrested only after collecting substantial evidence against them.