A hacker with an Indian passport in a Tokyo prison. An alleged victim in Hawaii. The hacker’s mother in India seeking a bailout.

With this cast of characters in play, the Delhi High Court has, in a precedent to international cyber crime cases, ruled that the Indian government cannot step into the matter on behalf of the accused.

Rajdutta Patkar is a software professional with an Indian passport. In late 2004, a US businessman based in Hawaii discovered that his e-mail address had been hacked and “vital text and image documents” accessed by a hacker. Investigators later tracked down the IP address and pathways used by the hacker and zeroed in on Patkar. With sufficient evidence against him, a US court registered a case against him.

On the run, Patkar was arrested in Japan in June last and, according to authorities there, is currently in detention in Kusog Detention Centre, Tokyo.

US authorities have, meanwhile, applied for his custody to stand trial in the hacking case in Hawaii or any designated US State. The matter is currently with Japanese officials. The two countries have ratified extradition treaties to cover cyber crime, including the landmark Budapest Treaty, under which citizens of a third country can also be extradited.

Back home, the mother of the accused filed a petition with the Delhi High Court to instruct the Ministry of External Affairs to intervene and secure the professional’s return from Japan.

Justice B D Ahmed heard the petition in the light of Patkar’s citizenship and the mother’s contention that the case was a motivated one and baseless. The counsel for the Centre, however, argued that given the nature of the case and the existing laws in the two countries involved, the Indian government could not intervene at this stage.

... contd.