Telegram Services in India Expected to Resume Soon, Message Editing Feature Remains Suspended Until June 30

New Delhi, June 23: The Indian government had temporarily suspended Telegram services nationwide until June 22, considering the NEET UG re-examination. However, reports suggest that these services are expected to resume shortly.

According to sources, the government does not plan to extend the suspension of Telegram, and the app should be available on app stores starting June 23.

Nevertheless, the central government’s decision to disable the message-editing feature on Telegram will remain in effect until June 30.

Last week, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology blocked Telegram in India as a precaution ahead of the NEET re-examination.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) stated on Tuesday, “These measures were taken in response to organized use of the platform by cheating rackets attempting to deceive candidates participating in the NEET UG 2026 re-examination scheduled for June 21.”

On Friday, the Delhi High Court upheld the government’s decision to temporarily suspend Telegram services across India before the NEET UG 2026 re-examination. The court noted that the government strictly followed the legal procedures outlined when exercising emergency blocking powers, and these restrictions met the ‘proportionality test.’

Dismissing a petition by Telegram FZ LLC challenging the blocking order, Justice Tejas Karia’s single-judge bench stated that halting the messaging platform until June 22 and disabling its message-editing feature until June 30 was justified given the circumstances surrounding the national medical entrance exam.

The Delhi High Court remarked, “Considering the emergency nature of this order, the reasons provided for the decision were sufficient. The central government has strictly adhered to the necessary procedural steps under Section 69A of the IT Act, thus this order cannot be challenged on the grounds of not providing reasons.”

These restrictions were imposed under Section 69A of the IT Act following recommendations from the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The central government defended this action, stating that due to the repeated misuse of Telegram’s architecture for exam-related fraud, authorities had no effective option other than to exercise emergency blocking powers.

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ABs