New Delhi, June 18: Messaging platform Telegram has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court against the central government’s decision to temporarily suspend its services in India before the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination scheduled for June 21.
The case was presented before Justice Tejas Kharia’s vacation bench.
Telegram is contesting the restrictions imposed under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, following recommendations from the National Testing Agency (NTA) and directives issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
On Tuesday, the central government announced a temporary ban on Telegram’s operations in the country until June 22. This ban is part of efforts to prevent alleged paper leaks, misinformation, and cheating networks ahead of the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination.
According to the NTA, the temporary ban became necessary after channel-specific actions and enforcement measures were found insufficient to mitigate the severity of the issue.
Officials have also instructed Telegram to disable its message editing feature in India until June 30. The NTA claims this feature has been misused to edit old messages and change attachments while retaining the original timestamps, creating fabricated evidence of question paper leaks.
The NTA reported that several Telegram channels operating under names like “Leaked NEET,” “Re-NEET 2026,” and “Private Mafia” were allegedly demanding payments from candidates in exchange for access to examination papers.
Meanwhile, Telegram’s founder and CEO Pavel Durov criticized the temporary suspension, stating that it would affect over 150 million users in India.
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