Why the Delhi HC Upheld Telegram's Temporary Block

The Delhi High Court on Thursday upheld the government order restricting public access to Telegram in India until June 22. Justice Tejas Karia ruled the measure lawful and proportionate under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, rejecting Telegram's petition.

The case traces to the leak of the NEET-UG 2026 examination paper. The government identified a Telegram channel named "NEET Mafia" with roughly 18,617 subscribers that allegedly shared content on paper leaks, advance booking arrangements, and payment collection. In its counter affidavit, the Centre called Telegram the "new dark web," saying criminals use it to post links to dark web forums through deep web links, making attribution difficult.

The government argued that Telegram's cloud-based architecture, public channels, large groups, bots, and username-based identities allowed unlawful content to spread fast while helping users stay anonymous. It cited activities including cyber fraud, financial scams, drug trafficking, child exploitation, piracy, and terrorism.

The court held that the government followed the due process prescribed under Section 69A and that the temporary restriction met the test of proportionality. "The government's measures are least restrictive. It cannot be held that the order is disproportionate," Justice Karia observed, according to Bar and Bench. Telegram had questioned how a NEET paper leak could justify invoking grounds like the sovereignty and integrity of India. The Court rejected that contention. It also ruled there was no reason under the IT Act to exclude Telegram from the definition of "information."

Telegram's Cooperation Argument and the Editing Feature

Telegram claimed it had held multiple meetings with government agencies, removed flagged content within an hour of receiving URLs, and took down more than 900 links related to unlawful NEET content. The company argued the blocking order showed non-application of mind and that it had been cooperating.

The Centre maintained that Telegram failed to adequately curb suspicious channels despite repeated notices. The temporary restriction was necessary to prevent further paper leaks, the government said.

The court also upheld the directive requiring Telegram to disable its message-editing feature for existing posts until June 30. The Centre alleged that the editing feature was used to make it appear that question papers had been leaked before the exam. Users could also be shifted from one channel to another within seconds, they said.

While the Court questioned the impact on millions of users, the government argued that preventive action was justified given the scale of the threat. The restriction runs through June 22. Telegram's message-editing feature remains disabled until June 30.