Telegram ban: HC asks government to present proof that justifies blocking

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought response from the Ministries of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Home Affairs and the National Testing agency (NTA) on messaging platform Telegram FZ-LLC’s petition challenging the government's temporary ban imposed on it ahead of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) re-examination scheduled on June 21.

While refusing to grant immediate relief to Telegram against the temporary ban till June 22, Justice Tejas Karia asked the government to “place supporting documents” that led to the blocking order by Thursday. The HC will further hear the matter on Thursday at 1430 IST.

The government said the ban was imposed to prevent cheating and the spread of fake question papers ahead of the June 21 NEET examination. Telegram has also been directed to disable the message-editing feature for messages already posted till June 30.

MeitY had also ordered the app to be removed from app stores. Subsequently, the messaging service stopped working for existing users in India even though it remained operational through Virtual Protocol Network (VPN). Both Google and Apple also delisted the app in compliance with government orders.

The undergraduate medical entrance examination conducted on May 3 was cancelled days after following allegations of widespread paper leak and irregularities. It was alleged that the Telegram application was used to circulate leaked questions and communicate with students, middlemen and others linked to the network. The NTA, which conducts the examination, has faced flak from candidates and parents for its inability to secure the question paper.