Delhi HC Backs Centre’s Temporary Telegram Ban Ahead of NEET Re-Exam

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday upheld the Centre’s decision to temporarily suspend Telegram services across India ahead of the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination, ruling that the government had acted within the framework of the law and followed the prescribed emergency procedures.

A Bench headed by Justice Tejas Karia dismissed Telegram’s challenge to the restrictions, observing that the measures met the legal test of proportionality and were justified given the circumstances surrounding the nationwide medical entrance examination.

The court held that the authorities had strictly adhered to the procedure laid down for invoking emergency blocking powers. It further noted that the government’s objective was legitimate, the action had a direct nexus with that objective, and less restrictive alternatives had been considered before imposing the temporary curbs.

Telegram had approached the High Court after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) ordered a temporary nationwide restriction on the platform until June 22. The government also directed the messaging app to disable its message-editing feature in India until June 30. The measures were taken following recommendations from the National Testing Agency (NTA).

Defending its decision, the Centre argued that Telegram had repeatedly been used for examination-related fraud, including the circulation of alleged NEET question papers and scams targeting students. According to the government, several channels, groups and bots operating on the platform had a combined reach of nearly 1.46 lakh accounts.

The government told the court that it had explored alternatives, including targeted takedowns of unlawful content, but found them insufficient. Authorities maintained that Telegram’s anonymity features, large public channels, automated bots, forwarding capabilities and cloud-based infrastructure made enforcement difficult and enabled rapid re-creation of banned content.

Officials argued that content-specific interventions had proved ineffective because fraudulent channels could be restored within minutes, making a temporary platform-wide restriction necessary to safeguard the integrity of the examination.

The NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination is scheduled for June 21 and will be taken by more than 22 lakh candidates after the original test held on May 3 was cancelled amid allegations of question paper leaks and other irregularities.

With inputs from IANS

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