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Trying to log into Telegram in India today might leave you hitting a digital brick wall. The central government imposed a temporary block on the app, immediately shutting down access for millions of users across the country until at least June 22. The immediate cause of the lockout is the massive debacle that has plagued the NEET-UG 2026 medical entrance exams, after original exam papers were “found” circulating the web ahead of their supposed commencement and widespread student protests erupted as original exams were canceled.
Faced with demands to take action before the re-test, which was slated to be held June 21, the government decided to target the messenger. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology utilized its powers under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act and blocked the application, while also ordering Telegram to disable its editing function completely until the end of the month. The reasoning was simple: “malicious actors” were reportedly distributing leaked papers on Telegram and manipulating timestamps to imply they acquired the documents much earlier than they did.
The matter has now landed before the Delhi High Court, with Telegram having dragged the center into court. A bench led by Justice Tejas Karia has taken up the challenge to determine the legality of the ban under current legal precedents.
The Trigger Behind the Kill Switch
The immense pressure on the government at this juncture cannot be understated. Millions of young students invest years preparing to clear the NEET exam; the announcement in May that papers had been leaked led to widespread outrage. Parents were naturally furious, and the National Testing Agency, responsible for the examination, came under intense criticism.
Authorities noticed that channels titled “PAPER LEAKED NEET” and “Private Mafia” were functioning openly on Telegram, demanding exorbitant sums of money from distressed students. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the court that the government had repeatedly been requesting the platform to regulate content since May, painting a picture of a tech company that remained indifferent to warnings while criminal elements flourished on their servers.
For the administration, the ban appears to have been a last resort. The argument is that targeting individual groups proved ineffective, as any blocked channels were quickly replaced by new ones. Shutting down the entire network was therefore seen as the only plausible method to protect the June 21 re-test.
The Collateral Damage of a Blanket Ban
Much of the legal debate hinges on the process itself. A nationwide ban of an entire app because some individuals misused it has caused significant collateral damage. Telegram has millions of users in India; a substantial proportion of those 150 million users include students, educators who use the platform to share educational materials, and small businesses that rely on it for their daily operations. All these individuals have suddenly been cut off from their communications.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov immediately pointed out this anomaly, arguing that ordinary citizens are punished while the actual parties responsible for leaking the exam, who initiated the leak at secure facilities such as printing presses or exam centers rather than through the app itself, remain unaffected. The app simply acts as a distribution channel.
Telegram’s Stand in the Courtroom
Representing Telegram, Senior Advocate Dhruv Mehta countered the center’s argument at the Delhi High Court. He argued that the platform acted swiftly to take down over 900 links as soon as notifications were received, and that they also utilized AI-driven tools to scrub objectionable content.
A central plank of their legal argument is that by targeting only Telegram, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology discriminated against it, violating the constitutional right to equality under Article 14. They highlight the fact that other messaging apps are equally susceptible to hosting leaked exam papers, and that scammers simply migrated to alternative platforms after Telegram was blocked.
Telegram also pointed out that the government bypassed its standard procedures for imposing a nationwide block. Generally, authorities are required to demonstrate that a distinct emergency situation exists and provide the affected party an opportunity to be heard before implementing such a drastic measure, a right that Telegram claims it was not granted, despite continuous communication with government agencies for weeks.
Proportionality is Key
The legality of the restriction hinges heavily on the principle of proportionality, a concept that the Delhi High Court scrutinizes rigorously. Judges routinely consider whether the governmental action is overbroad and unnecessarily restrictive. Justice Karia, for example, specifically questioned the center during the initial hearing whether their ban was proportionate to the issue at hand.
Indian courts have previously established that any digital restriction must be narrowly tailored, requiring the blocking of specific problematic URLs or channels rather than an entire domain. The government’s defense is that targeted takedowns were too slow to prevent immediate damage before the exam, but this argument must overcome strict legal tests when assessed against the deprivation of rights for millions.
Even temporary suspensions of rights still require rigorous justification and uphold the principle that law enforcement cannot, as a general rule, suspend the rights of an entire population of users without clear and overwhelming evidence that it is the only possible means to address an urgent threat. If upheld, such an approach by the government could set a precedent for indiscriminate digital shutdowns during law enforcement emergencies.
The Ever-Shifting Target of Digital Leaks
At a broader level, this case touches upon the challenges posed by the ephemeral nature of digital piracy. Paper leaks occur when the physical integrity of documents is compromised. Through bribery, tampering with seals, and willful neglect by invigilators, question papers reach scammers, who then use digital channels to distribute them widely. Focusing solely on Telegram ignores the systemic issues that allow such breaches to happen in the first place. Scammers are incredibly resourceful and can easily pivot to secure, decentralized networks or other chat applications. The court’s task will be to strike a balance between protecting national examinations and upholding the fundamental rights of platform users.
