Overview
- The Delhi High Court, which issued its order on Friday, found the Centre followed the Section 69A procedure and that a time‑bound block of Telegram until June 22 and a ban on its message‑editing feature until June 30 were proportionate to protect the NEET‑UG re‑test.
- The government told the court that Telegram’s cloud storage, large public channels, automated bots and editable posts let unlawful channels reappear quickly and create post‑facto misleading evidence, so channel‑by‑channel takedowns repeatedly failed.
- Telegram said it had removed hundreds of NEET‑related links using AI and moderation tools and argued a blanket restriction hurt over 150 million Indian users and lawful educational uses, a point the court weighed but rejected for the short period at issue.
- The block covers the June 21 re‑examination for over two million candidates while criminal probes into the original May 3 paper leak continue, and Telegram has indicated it may seek further legal challenges against the order.
- Legal and digital‑rights experts warn the ruling could broaden how Section 69A is read by treating software and platforms as blockable information and may reshape future rules on intermediary responsibility and platform‑wide restrictions.