Telegram case: Delhi high court rejects plea challenging Centre’s temporary ban on platform
Mumbai/New Delhi: In a landmark judgment on online platform regulation, the Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed Telegram’s objection to the Centre’s interim ban on the messaging platform, stating that the government’s action under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act was justified.
Justice Tejas Karia upheld the blocking order passed ahead of the re-examination of NEET-UG to block the alleged misuse of the platform by paper leaks and cheating networks.
The Centre, on recommendations of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the higher education department, had blocked Telegram till June 22, alleging that organized groups were using the platform to supposedly distribute exam papers and facilitate exam-related fraud.
The court held that the government had provided sufficient reasons to justify the blocking order and refused to interfere with the exercise of powers under Section 69A of the IT Act, which empowers the Center to block online content or platforms for the purpose of public order, national security and prevention of illegal activities.
The decision is expected to be closely followed by social media and messaging platforms as it strengthens the Centre’s powers to impose platform-wide restrictions under Section 69A where it deems such action necessary to protect public interest and curb illegal activities.
Questions sent via e-mail to Telegram and the ministry of education remained unanswered until the time of publication.
In its defense, Telegram argued that the government’s ban decision was implemented without using sufficient reason. The proportionality of the government’s claim that the blocking decision failed to justify why a platform-wide ban was necessary was also questioned.
“The impugned decision does not provide any basis as to why such a draconian measure affecting the rights of the Petitioners as well as over 150 million Telegram users in India is a proportionate remedy,” the company said.
Attorney General of India Tushar Mehta, representing the government, said Telegram’s architecture is different from other messaging platforms, making it difficult for the company to prevent abuse. Mehta also told the court that reports identified Telegram as a preferred platform for terrorist activities.
Attorney General R. Venkataramani, who also attended the hearing via video conference, said in his closing speech, “This platform is a Frankenstein in terms of its architecture. If a country like us cannot take preventive measures, where will we go?” He said the action taken by the center was necessary to prevent further damage.
Telegram defended its content moderation systems in its petition, saying it reviews approximately 35 billion content items worldwide every month using AI-powered tools and maintains a more than 99% accuracy rate in detecting illegal content.
After hearing the arguments, Judge Tejas Karia asked the following question: “How can we stop the rights of 150 million people just because a group of citizens are taking exams?”
More than 2 million students appeared for the medical entrance exam this year. This action by the government comes after weeks of controversy surrounding NEET-UG 2026 after allegations of question paper leak led authorities to cancel the original exam and order a retest.
According to the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the exam, the temporary restriction was introduced to prevent misuse of Telegram by groups that allegedly distributed leaked question papers and misled candidates.
The original NEET-UG exam was held on May 3 and around 2.28 million candidates appeared at more than 5,000 centers across the country. Allegations of document leaks triggered protests and investigations and led authorities to annul results and retest for affected candidates.
Besides restricting access to Telegram, the government has also directed the platform to disable the message editing feature in India by June 30 for messages already sent.
