Delhi HC Upholds Temporary Telegram Ban in India to Protect NEET UG Re-Exam Integrity

After the circulation of fake leaked examination papers for NEET 2026, telegram messaging platform was banned reportedly. The examination was conducted on 3rd May, 2026. The app wasn’t banned directly, before the ban, telegram representatives and government officials had a meeting before announcing the ban.

These unethical activities and spreading of misinformation allegedly affected the examination process, however there are no official reports confirming the same. After the meeting was conducted, government officials announced that the telegram app, the links and the web version were temporarily discontinued for users in India till 22 June.      

Telegram CEO’s Response on the Temporary Ban

The messaging platform also moved the Delhi High Court last week, which was rejected later in the week. The matter was listed before the bench of Justice Tejas Karia. He ruled that ‌the government's actions, aimed at preserving the integrity of a key exam for admissions to medical colleges were legal and reasonable.

Telegram Founder and CEO Parel Durov wasn’t in favor of this decision and criticized the IT ministry for the temporary ban. According to him, it wasn't a good decision to ban the app because some users shared the leaked examination. 

Durov stated in a post on X, “The ban hasn’t stopped anything, the leaks just moved to other apps. Over the past few weeks, we removed hundreds of channels sharing leaked exam materials and related scams in India. We’re also making ‘edited’ label more visible to prevent backdating scams. Banning telegram temporarily is a mistake.”

30 People Arrested in Bihar

While there were no reports of fraudulent activities during the NEET-UG Re-examination which was conducted on 21st June 2026, the PTI noted that 30 people were arrested reportedly for attempting to violate the rules and regulations during the re-examination. 

18 people working in the exam centres were arrested for violating the biometric verification norms, and the majority of the others were impersonators who tried to write the exam in place of the genuine candidates.