Telegram has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court challenging India’s one-week nationwide ban on the messaging platform, which the government imposed ahead of the NEET-UG 2026 medical entrance re-examination. The vacation bench of Justice Tejas Karia agreed to hear the case after Telegram’s advocate, Madhav Khosla, emphasized the urgency of restoring access for more than 150 million Indian users before the June 21 test .
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ordered the block under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, citing attempts by illicit channels to sell fabricated NEET question papers. The National Testing Agency said earlier takedown efforts coordinated with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre failed to force Telegram’s compliance, making the ban “a measure of last resort” . Channels operating under names including “PAPER LEAKED NEET,” “Re-NEET 2026,” and “Private Mafia” were demanding fees ranging from thousands to several lakh rupees for access to a paper that the NTA confirmed does not exist outside the secured examination process .
In addition to the full ban, a separate order required Telegram to disable its message-editing feature until June 30. The NTA said the feature had been exploited to embed leaked questions into old posts and fabricate evidence of exam leaks . NTA Director General Abhishek Singh acknowledged that some operators could use VPNs to bypass the block but argued that cutting off access for the broader user base would collapse the fraud networks’ market .
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov criticized the move on X, stating that the ban punishes ordinary users rather than the insiders who leaked materials. He wrote that the restriction “hasn’t stopped anything” and that leaks have simply shifted to other apps . Following the government order, Google removed Telegram from the Play Store in India.
The legal challenge comes as more than 22 lakh candidates are registered for the retest, which was scheduled after the original May 3 exam was canceled on May 12 amid leak allegations now under CBI investigation . Telegram’s petition argues that the temporary restriction disproportionately affects lawful users while failing to address the root cause of the fraud.
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