Delhi High Court reserves verdict on Telegram's challenge to NEET block

The Delhi High Court has reserved its verdict on Telegram’s challenge to India’s temporary block on the messaging app, a restriction imposed ahead of the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination scheduled for June 21.

The case has moved from an urgent administrative action to a court battle over whether the government can lawfully keep Telegram blocked while it says it is trying to disrupt exam-fraud networks. Court reporting says the Centre defended the move as a response to organized misuse of the platform, while Telegram argued that the restriction is too broad and harms legitimate users.

What prompted the block

The temporary restriction was reported under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. Reporting says the move came after allegations that Telegram channels were being used to circulate fake NEET leak claims, coordinate cheating activity and manipulate message timestamps.

The issue became more urgent because the NEET-UG 2026 re-exam is scheduled for June 21 and affects more than 2.2 million candidates. The government has treated the platform as part of a broader exam-security problem rather than as a general internet access question.

How the court hearing developed

According to court reporting, the Delhi High Court first sought responses from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Testing Agency after Telegram challenged the ban.

At the hearing, the Centre said it had material it would place before the court to justify the restriction. The court then reserved its verdict, leaving the matter pending while the exam date approaches.

The government’s case

The Centre’s position is that Telegram was being misused by organized cheating networks linked to the NEET process. Reporting from the hearing says government counsel described the material as serious enough to warrant the temporary block and said the evidence would be shown to the court.

A separate reporting thread also says the government defended the curbs by arguing that the platform had been used to support leak and fraud networks, not just isolated individual abuse. That framing matters because it goes to whether a broad block can be justified as proportionate and necessary.

Telegram’s challenge

Telegram is contesting both the legality and the scope of the restriction. Its position is that a blanket block is not a lawful or proportionate response if the complaint concerns a narrower set of alleged bad actors.

Pavel Durov, Telegram’s founder, has also criticized the move publicly, saying it punishes more than 150 million users. That complaint has become part of the public-facing dispute around whether the action is targeted enforcement or overreach.

Why the case matters

The immediate question is whether Telegram remains blocked in India through the NEET-UG re-exam period. The court’s reserved verdict leaves that unresolved for now.

The broader issue is how far the government can go in blocking encrypted or semi-private messaging platforms when it says they are being used for fraud. The case could become a reference point for future disputes over platform regulation and blocking powers under Indian IT law.

Reporting also says a separate restriction on Telegram’s message-editing feature was set to last until June 30, 2026, underscoring that the dispute is not limited to the full app block alone.

What happens next

The next key development is the court’s written judgment or any interim direction before the June 21 re-exam. If the court narrows or lifts the restriction, Telegram could regain access in India before the test.

If the court upholds the government’s position, the block is likely to remain in place through the exam period, and the court’s reasoning could shape how similar restrictions are assessed in future cases.