New Delhi : Telegram has challenged the Centre’s decision to temporarily block access to its services ahead of the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination. The company approached the Delhi High Court on Wednesday, and Justice Tejas Karia agreed to hear the matter later in the day. The legal challenge comes a day after the Central government imposed a temporary ban on Telegram until June 22, following recommendations from the National Testing Agency (NTA).
The restriction covers the June 21 NEET-UG re-test and the immediate post-examination period. Authorities said the move was aimed at preventing cheating, curbing fake paper leak claims and stopping misinformation targeting students. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued the blocking order under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
The decision followed requests from the NTA and the Department of Higher Education after concerns were raised about fraudulent activities linked to the examination. The NEET-UG exam conducted on May 3 was cancelled amid allegations of irregularities, prompting the NTA to schedule a fresh examination on June 21. NTA Director General Abhishek Singh said the agency was committed to ensuring a fair and malpractice-free examination.
He clarified that the action was not taken because of any confirmed paper leak but due to the rapid spread of fake messages and scams circulating online. The agency reiterated that no question paper exists outside the secured examination system and described all such claims as fraudulent. Officials said the temporary ban was imposed only after alternative measures, including the removal of channels and groups through the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), failed to effectively contain the problem. The NTA termed the restriction a “last resort” to safeguard candidates ahead of the examination.
Telegram has been directed to disable its message-editing feature for previously posted messages in India until June 30. Authorities claim that the feature has been misused to alter old posts and create false evidence suggesting that examination papers had been leaked before the test. Telegram CEO Pavel Durov criticised the government’s decision, calling it a mistake. In a post on X, he argued that the ban affects more than 150 million legitimate users in India rather than the individuals responsible for spreading fraudulent content.
Durov also said Telegram had already removed hundreds of channels linked to scams and fake paper leak claims. The move has also drawn criticism from the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), which described the ban as a disproportionate response to examination-related fraud. Meanwhile, the NTA said investigations into Telegram-based fraud networks are continuing across multiple states.
It cited recent actions by Bihar Police and the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch against groups allegedly involved in fake paper leak scams and financial fraud targeting NEET aspirants. The agency has assured students that the NEET-UG re-examination will be conducted as scheduled on June 21 and urged candidates to rely only on official NTA communication channels while reporting suspicious claims through the National Cyber Crime Helpline and the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.
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