Delhi HC denies interim relief to Telegram against ban
The Delhi high court on Wednesday refused to grant immediate interim relief to Telegram against the Centre's temporary ban on the instant messaging platform ahead
The Delhi high court on Wednesday refused to grant immediate interim relief to Telegram against the Centre's temporary ban on the instant messaging platform ahead of the NEET-UG re-examination on 21 June. Hearing the app's urgent petition, Justice Tejas Karia issued notice to the Centre, seeking its response to the challenge against the blocking order. Counsel for Telegram argued that the government order contained no valid grounds for blocking the platform. In response, solicitor general of India Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Union government, said he possessed specific information, including user IDs, and had alerted the platform to the issue, asking it to rectify its systems. “They were repeatedly called and told that these are issues, and you correct your system. But they failed to do it.” Quick answers to key questions • 5 QUESTIONS 1 Why did the Delhi High Court deny Telegram's petition against the ban? ⌵ The Delhi High Court denied Telegram's petition for immediate relief, as it is seeking responses from the Centre regarding the blocking order while emphasizing the government's concerns over organized cheating networks.
2 How does the Centre justify the temporary ban on Telegram? ⌵ The Centre justified the temporary ban on Telegram by citing its exploitation by organized cheating networks to circulate leaked examination papers ahead of the NEET-UG re-examination. 3 What impact does the ban on Telegram have on users in India? ⌵ The ban on Telegram impacts over 150 million users in India, disrupting their services while allegedly failing to deter the actual perpetrators behind examination leaks, according to Telegram's CEO. 4 What features of Telegram are being targeted by the government to prevent exam fraud? ⌵ The government has specifically targeted Telegram's message-editing feature, ordering it to be disabled temporarily to prevent the manipulation of old messages to fabricate evidence of exam paper leaks. 5 When is the NEET-UG re-examination scheduled following the Telegram ban? ⌵ The NEET-UG re-examination is scheduled for 21 June, following the imposition of the Telegram ban until 22 June to prevent cheating related to the exam.
Telegram argued that the ban was harming its business interests and disrupting services for millions of users. However, the court declined to stay the government's action at this stage. The Centre has blocked Telegram until 22 June under Section 69A of the IT Act, citing concerns about paper leaks. The matter will be heard again on Thursday. Mint's emailed queries to the education ministry and telegram remained unanswered. Pre-emptive measure The temporary ban was imposed to prevent the misuse of Telegram by groups allegedly circulating leaked examination papers and misleading candidates. The NEET-UG examination was conducted on 3 May, with nearly 2.28 million candidates appearing across more than 5,000 centres nationwide. However, allegations of a paper leak triggered widespread protests and investigations, prompting authorities to cancel the results and schedule a re-test. Also Read | Centre tells Delhi high court it won't forcibly take over Delhi Gymkhana Club Apart from blocking access to Telegram, the government has also directed the platform to disable, within India, its message-editing feature for previously posted messages until 30 June.
The BriefWire