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Informist, Thursday, Jun. 18, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court Thursday reserved its verdict on Telegram FZ-LLC.'s plea against the government's temporary ban on the messaging application till Jun. 22, ahead of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test re-examination on Jun. 21. On Telegram's argument that its fundamental right is being infringed, Justice Tejas Karia observed that Right to Free Speech under the Indian Constitution is available to users not the application, which even the Karnataka High Court had also held in a judgment. 

 

Justice Karia asked what steps Telegram will take in real time if there is a paper leak on its platform. He questioned whether there was any real-time surveillance mechanism available on Telegram's platform. "Let's have a hypothetical (question). Suppose a paper is leaked by the time the order comes to you (Telegram), the damage is done. What is your proposal? How can it be dealt with?" asked Justice Karia. 

 

The court sought a response from Telegram to the government's argument that the platform's architecture was insufficient, which is why emergency powers were used to temporarily ban the application. It seems the measures Telegram deployed were not satisfactory, the court said. On Telegram's argument that the principle of natural justice was not followed in banning the platform, the high court said that this argument cannot be the sole basis for challenging the government's order, as the Centre had made serious allegations against the application.

 

Justice Karia questioned the Centre on how it could deprive the rights of 150 million Telegram users just because one set of citizens is appearing in the examination. "The question is, can you block somebody else's rights to protect someone else's rights?" observed Justice Karia.

 

The ban came after the country's key undergraduate medical entrance examination was cancelled earlier this year following allegations of paper leaks and irregularities. It has been alleged that the Telegram app was used to circulate leaked question papers and communicate with students, middlemen, and others linked to the illicit network.

 

Telegram has also been directed to disable the message-editing feature for messages already posted till Jun. 30. The National Testing Agency said the feature was used "to fabricate after-the-event 'paper leak' evidence in case of several recent examinations". It claimed that a channel administrator "edits an older, innocuous message to insert the actual question paper after the examination has been conducted, and the resulting chat is then circulated as purported 'evidence' that the paper was in circulation before the examination".

 

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, justified the temporary ban on Telegram, arguing that the platform's architecture makes it unable to do what is required in these circumstances. Mehta said that a Telegram account can create 40 bots, while WhatsApp allows only one bot per user. Telegram has multiplicity, encouraging architecture, and bots can further multiply. If Telegram removes one bot, other bots can be created under different names and identifiers. Therefore, measures against bots only have a temporary relief, Mehta said. Telegram's extensive bot ecosystem provides automatic redirection to mirror channels for deleted channels, he said.

 

Further, Telegram operates through the cloud. If the government blocks something and mischief ensues, the law enforcement agency is unable to reach the person who caused the trouble, Mehta said. Telegram's privacy policy also provides for the deletion of all data, messages, and media upon account deletion. It permits users to conceal critical identifiers, including their phone numbers, and communicate solely through usernames. These features significantly impede law enforcement agencies' ability to identify co-conspirators, trace communication chains, and establish attribution during an investigation, Mehta said.

 

Further, according to some reports, the Telegram application is the most preferred platform for terrorist activities, Mehta said. Various jurisdictions have taken action against Telegram for terrorist content, exam-related leaks, and failure to comply with law enforcement agency orders, Mehta said.  The entire credibility of a national-level exam will be brought into disrepute if no action is taken against platforms like Telegram, Mehta said.

 

Telegram had argued that the ban on the app suffers from a lack of application of mind. The government's order is overboard, it said, and the secretary of the ministry had issued it without thoroughly examining it. There are some things that are good and some that are bad, and just because some things are bad, you cannot block the entire platform, it argued. The government's ban is arbitrary and violates fundamental rights to speech and the Right to Equality under the Constitution, Telegram said. 

 

The National Testing Agency, which conducts examinations for admission to higher educational institutions, said that over the past few weeks, Telegram channels operating openly on the platform have been demanding money from candidates in exchange for purported access to the examination paper. According to the agency, some of these channels openly advertise their purpose through names such as 'Paper Leaked NEET', 'Re-NEET 2026', 'Private Mafia', and 'Ree Neet Mafiaa'. 

 

The medical entrance examination conducted on May 3 was cancelled following reports that the question papers were leaked. The National Testing Agency has faced flak from candidates and parents for its inability to secure the question paper. Several opposition parties, including the Congress, have criticised the government and the agency and demanded the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Saji George Titus

 

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