The Delhi High Court has upheld the Centre’s decision to temporarily suspend Telegram’s services across India before the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination. The court ruled that the government followed the legal procedure correctly and that the restrictions were proportionate.
The court dismissed a petition by Telegram FZ LLC challenging the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s blocking order. The suspension of the messaging platform until June 22 and disabling of its message-editing feature until June 30 were deemed justified.
Justice Tejas Karia stated that the government’s actions were emergency measures and the reasons provided for the decision were adequate. The court found that the restrictions met the test of proportionality as required by the Supreme Court.
Telegram had contested the suspension and disabling of features, but the court found that the government’s actions were necessary. The restrictions were imposed under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act based on recommendations from the National Testing Agency and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The court noted that Telegram’s platform architecture allowed rapid dissemination of content, making enforcement through channel-specific takedowns ineffective. The platform’s structure facilitated mass dissemination of information, reaching a large number of users quickly.
