- By Nidhi Giri
- Wed, 17 Jun 2026 11:22 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
- Telegram has gone to Delhi HC over the temporary ban.
- Centre had announced a ban on Telegram till June 22.
- The hearing in Delhi HC will take place today.
Telegram has approached the Delhi High Court after the government announced a temporary ban on the messaging app ahead of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) Undergraduate re-examination on June 21. As per LiveLaw, the hearing for the matter will take place on Wednesday.
Why Has Telegram Been Temporarily Banned?
Following reports of a NEET UG 2026 question paper leak, the NTA moved to tighten security for the upcoming re-examination scheduled for June 21. Acting on its recommendation, the Centre has temporarily restricted access to Telegram across India until June 22, 2026.
In its statement, the NTA said it supports the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s (MeitY) decision, saying the restrictions would help maintain the fairness of the examination and protect candidates from organised fraud.
As per the directive, Telegram access will remain restricted until June 22, covering the exam day and the immediate aftermath. In addition, MeitY has instructed the platform to disable its message-editing feature in India until June 30.
The agency also highlighted the role of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs in coordinating action against Telegram-based fraud networks and misinformation targeting NEET aspirants. Based on inputs from the NTA, state police, and its own monitoring systems, I4C helped take down multiple Telegram channels, groups, and bots allegedly involved in fraudulent activity.
According to the NTA, these coordinated efforts helped limit the impact of such networks even before the decision for platform-level restrictions was taken.
According to the NTA, earlier steps such as removing individual channels did not fully stop the circulation of fake claims, leading to the decision for broader platform-level restrictions.
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The agency also flagged multiple Telegram groups using names like "PAPER LEAKED NEET", "Re-NEET 2026", "Private Mafia" and "REE NEET MAFIAA", which allegedly attempted to extort money from candidates by falsely claiming access to exam papers.
It further stated that disabling Telegram’s message-editing feature was aimed at preventing the manipulation of posts to create false “paper leak” proof after examinations, as edited messages can retain original timestamps and mislead users.