ISLAMABAD, Oct 26 Two teenagers accused of hacking the Supreme Court's website have told investigators that they had been consulted for the purpose by a cyber criminal based in India.

Informed sources told Dawn on Tuesday that the boys who hacked the website last month had been arrested in Kohat after they were traced using advanced technology. They said it was disturbing that the crime had been committed in collusion with an Indian national.

The hackers had not only defaced scales which make out the insignia of the court by filling both the sides with currency notes, but also inserted derogatory and abusive remarks against the judiciary after hacking the website in the night of Sept 29.

The matter was reported by the Supreme Court's information technology section to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority on behalf of the registrar. The PTA forwarded the report to the Federal Investigation Agency following which NR3C (Cyber Crime Wing) of the FIA swung into action and finally traced Saim Ali Shahand and Salal Ali Shah, members of the self-proclaimed Cyber Army and Pak Bugs, and arrested them.

Interestingly, they were also involved in the recent hacking of NR3C website. The cyber crimes have been on the rise in the country since the lapse of cyber crime ordinance about a year ago and there are no signs of its re- promulgation in the near future. Most criminals go unpunished taking advantage of the absence of the law.

BAIL REJECTED Additional Sessions Judge Rawalpindi Tanvir Akbar has rejected a bail plea of the two hackers.

The sources said the concession of bail was not granted by the judge considering the magnitude of the crime. They said the counsel for the accused could not produce documentary evidence in support of the claim that they were minors and under the juvenile justice system could not be kept behind the bars.

The only argument the counsel had advanced was that action against his clients was mala fide.

But Tariq Bilal, the legal adviser to the Cyber Crime Wing, said the FIA had no animosity with the accused and they had been arrested only after collecting substantial evidence against them.