Delhi High Court Reserves Judgment on Telegram App Ban

The Government of India implemented a temporary ban on the messaging app Telegram ahead of the June 21 NEET-UG 2026 re-examination to prevent the dissemination of leaked exam materials. In hearings before the Delhi High Court, the government argued that Telegram functions as a "new dark web," facilitating criminal activity and examination fraud through public channels and bots. Authorities specifically cited a channel named "Neet Mafia" and demanded the disabling of message-editing features until June 30 to preserve evidence timestamps.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Attorney General R. Venkataramani defended the measures under Section 69A of the IT Act, with Venkataramani describing the platform's architecture as a "Frankenstein." Telegram challenged the order as unconstitutional and disproportionate, noting the ban affects over 150 million users despite the company's removal of more than 900 unlawful links. Justice Tejas Karia questioned the proportionality of the blanket restriction before reserving the court's judgment.

Parallel security measures for the exam include nearly 200 Indian Air Force sorties to securely deliver papers. The move drew sharp criticism from Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal, who called the government's approach a "comedy circus" and alleged that organized paper leak networks persist due to political corruption. Separately, Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs met with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to request that a caveat letter be respected amid party rebellion rumors.