Telegram moves Delhi HC after Centre bans platform
What's the story
Messaging platform Telegram has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court against the central government's decision to temporarily block its services in India. The ban, which is effective till June 22, was imposed to prevent paper leaks ahead of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2026 re-examination on June 21. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) took this step based on recommendations from the National Testing Agency (NTA) and Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education.
Bench
Court to hear matter today
Advocate Madhav Khosla mentioned the petition before a vacation bench comprising Justice Tejas Karia. The court agreed to hear the matter on an urgent basis, listing the matter for Wednesday. Khosla told the bench that the government's ban had affected over 150 million Telegram users in India.
CEO's response
Telegram CEO calls ban unfair to Indian users
Telegram's CEO Pavel Durov slammed the ban as unfair to over 150 million ordinary Indian users. He said in a post on X that the move only shifted leaks to other apps. "Over the past few weeks, we removed hundreds of channels sharing leaked exam materials and related scams in India. We're also making the 'edited' label more visible to prevent backdating scams....Banning it, even temporarily, is a mistake," Durov said.
Action welcomed
NTA backs MeitY's decision, calls it 'calibrated'
The government has described the measure as necessary to protect the integrity of the NEET re-examination. The NTA has backed MeitY's decision, calling it calibrated and bounded in time to protect the integrity of the re-examination. The ministry also issued another order directing the platform to disable, till June 30, the message-editing feature for messages already posted. The NTA said this feature had been misused in recent examinations to fabricate after-the-event "paper leak" evidence.
Fraud warning
Fraudulent channels promised access to NEET exam paper
The NTA has also flagged Telegram channels with names such as "PAPER LEAKED DETT," "Re-NEET 2026," and "Private Mafia." These channels, it said, allegedly demanded payments from students and their families by falsely promising access to the re-examination paper. The agency reiterated that no such material is available outside the secured examination chain, calling any promise of such material a fraud.