New Delhi, June 18: The Delhi High Court is set to hear a case regarding the temporary ban imposed on Telegram by the central government this Thursday. The petition challenges the government’s decision.
According to the court’s cause list, the case titled “Telegram FZ LLC and Others vs. Union of India and Others” is scheduled to be heard by Justice Tejas Kharia’s vacation bench at 2:30 PM.
On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court requested a response from the central government regarding Telegram’s petition and allowed relevant officials to submit their responses and necessary documents on record.
Telegram has sought an urgent hearing, arguing that the temporary suspension of its services and the associated restrictions are excessive and could adversely affect millions of users across the country.
The central government announced on Tuesday that it would temporarily suspend Telegram’s operations in India until June 22. This announcement coincides with the day of the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination and the immediate period following it.
This action by the government aims to curb alleged paper leaks, misinformation campaigns, and cheating networks ahead of the NEET (UG) re-exam. According to the National Testing Agency (NTA), the scale of the problem necessitated a temporary suspension, as channel-specific takedown and enforcement actions had proven insufficient.
In addition to limiting access to the platform, authorities have instructed Telegram to disable its message-editing feature in India until June 30. The NTA claims this feature has been misused in the past to create false evidence of question paper leaks by editing old messages and changing attachments while maintaining the original timestamp.
The agency also alleged that several Telegram channels operating under names like “Leaked NEET,” “Re-NEET 2026,” and “Private Mafia” were soliciting money from candidates in exchange for access to the exam papers.
Telegram’s founder and CEO, Pavel Durov, criticized the temporary ban, stating that it affects over 150 million users in India. In a post on the social media platform X, Durov mentioned that Telegram had already removed hundreds of channels in recent weeks that were reportedly involved in sharing leaked exam materials and scamming students in India. The re-examination is being conducted following allegations of a question paper leak during the original exam held on May 3.
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SD/AS
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