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NEET Paper Controversy: Delhi High Court on Friday approved the decision of the Central Government in which Telegram was temporarily blocked before the re-examination of NEET-UG 2026. The court clearly said that the design of this platform is such that illegal things spread like wildfire on it. The court also acknowledged that minor measures to prevent abuses related to examination cheating had failed.

Telegram's mistakes from design to features

Telegram's owner company Telegram FZ LLC had filed a petition against this ban, which was rejected by Justice Tejas Karia. Justice Karia said that the special features of Telegram, such as large public channels, facility to store data on the cloud, large network of bots, running accounts under username, mirror channels (duplicate channels) and ability to edit messages, make it very easy for spread of misinformation and fraud.

How dangerous is Telegram for NEET paper?

• The court found that even if certain channels are removed, the structure of Telegram is such that duplicate channels (mirror channels) are immediately created and subscribers migrate to them. This allows illegal activities to resume almost immediately. The court also said that the message editing feature can be misused to falsely claim that the paper was leaked before the examination, thereby misleading students and the general public.
• The court acknowledged that small steps like removing just a few channels or accounts did not prove effective. The court said that the government has proved that efforts to remove channels, bots and accounts have repeatedly failed. Because these criminals used to come back again and again through backup channels.

Did Telegram give this suggestion in the court?

• Telegram had argued that the government does not have the power to block the entire platform under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. The court rejected this argument. The court said that the scope of the word "information" under this law is very wide and also includes software, computer programs and applications. Therefore, the central government has the power to block access to the entire platform if needed.
• Justice Karia also said that this order of blocking in emergency was not given without thinking and there were sufficient reasons behind it. The Court said that considering the seriousness of the situation and public order as well as the sanctity of the examination, the reasons given by the government were sufficient and were in accordance with Section 69A and the blocking rules.

Will the paper not be leaked due to this step of the government?

• The court also accepted the Centre's contention that immediate action was necessary to protect the interests of approximately 22 lakh NEET candidates and the sanctity of the re-examination. The court also referred to reports by the National Testing Agency (NTA), the Home Ministry and the Indian Cyber ​​Crime Coordination Centre, which showed that despite repeated interactions and removal of channels, misuse of Telegram was continuing.
• Applying the principles of proportionality laid down in the Supreme Court's 'Anuradha Bhasin' case, the High Court said that the temporary ban on Telegram till June 22 and shutting down the message-editing feature till June 30, are measures taken for a limited period of time. These steps are specifically related to the re-examination of NEET-UG 2026 to be held on June 21.
• The court said, "Under the orders, the temporary ban on Telegram is applicable only till 22.06.2026, while the closure of the message-editing facility is limited to 30.06.2026. The limited duration of these measures shows that they are very thoughtful and only for the period necessary to achieve the stated objective."
• Ultimately, the Court concluded that the government's action met all the conditions of proportionality. The court held that this temporary stay was the "least stringent measure necessary" to prevent cheating in the examination, maintain public order and maintain confidence in the examination process. With this the writ petition was dismissed.