Delhi HC hears Centre's plea for temporary Telegram ban ahead of NEET retest

The Union government on Thursday submitted in the Delhi High Court that it repeatedly asked Telegram to take proactive measures against illegal and suspicious channels, but the messaging app failed to act, necessitating a temporary ban ahead of the NEET-UG re-examination scheduled for June 21.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, cited a report from the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) to argue that Telegram has 'architectural flaws' making it unsuitable for preventing large-scale cheating in high-stakes exams. He stated that the platform allows one account to create up to 40 bots, unlike WhatsApp which permits only one bot per user. The government claimed that this feature, combined with cloud-based operations, makes it difficult to track criminals who commit crimes using the app.

Mehta also highlighted that entire channels with up to a lakh members can be shifted to another channel in seconds, posing a serious risk. He noted that other countries have taken action against Telegram for terror-related activities. 'The exam will be taken by over 22 lakh students and even their families are attached to them. If our assumptions turn true then there can be a law and order situation,' he argued.

In response, Telegram's counsel suggested blocking at the device level as an alternative. However, the government maintained that the platform's architecture prevents effective enforcement.

During the hearing, the court questioned whether the rights of ordinary users could be curbed because of misuse by some. 'Can you block someone else's rights to safeguard someone else's right?' it asked. Mehta responded that when the internet is banned in a region, only about 10% are miscreants while the rest are the general public. He also pointed to an incident in 2024 where a question paper was posted after an exam but the date was edited to appear as if it was leaked beforehand, leading to protests.

Attorney General R. Venkatramani supported the government's stance, stating that there was full application of mind before blocking the app and that a 'law and order situation' looms. 'If our country cannot take preventive action, where will we go?' he asked.

The temporary ban was imposed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, effective until June 22. A separate direction requires Telegram to disable message editing until June 30.