Delhi HC reserves judgment on Telegram’s plea challenging temporary ban ahead of NEET retest
Centre flagged security risks and lack of proactive measure against “illegal, suspicious” channels; submitted list of action taken against the platform by other countries
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The Delhi High Court on Thursday (June 18, 2026) reserved its judgment on the plea challenging a temporary ban on Telegram messaging platform ahead of the upcoming NEET-UG re-examination. This comes two days after the Centre’s decision to suspend access to the platform services in India until June 22, citing concerns linked to the conduct of the retest.
In the hearing, the Centre said it has been repeatedly asking Telegram messaging app to take proactive measures to keep a check on illegal and suspicious channels. Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta submitted the Court that “nothing was done” about the matter.
Citing “architectural flaws”, Mr. Mehta justified the requirement of a temporary ban on Telegram, announced on June 16, ahead of the re-examination on June 21. “The exam will be taken by over 22 lakh students and even their families are attached to them. If our assumptions turn true then there can be a law and order situation.”
Responding to the government’s allegations, Telegram says, “We have suggested blocking device level”.
Mr. Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said most channels on the platform are bots. “In Telegram, one account can create 40 bots. In WhatsApp it’s one bot per user,” he said, citing a Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) report. The report says that Telegram’s platform is not competent enough to deal with the something like current situation, unlike other similar messaging apps, the government submission noted.
He noted that the platform operates through the cloud infrastructure. “Those who commit crime cannot be tracked”.
“Telegram has faced actions of terror activities by other countries. Other countries have also take action on the platform due to its usage which objectionable,” he said, adding that the government has submitted a list of action taken against Telegram by other countries.
“The entie population of a channel, around a lakh, can be moved to another
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