TNI Bureau: The Delhi High Court on Friday upheld the Central government’s decision to block Telegram in India, rejecting the messaging platform’s plea against the ban. The court ruled that the Centre had followed the prescribed legal procedure and was empowered to restrict access to the platform. The blocking order will remain in force until June 22, a day after the NEET re-test concludes on June 21.

During the hearing, the Centre argued that Telegram’s platform and bot infrastructure could be misused for large-scale dissemination of content and criminal activities. The government also maintained that the emergency blocking order was justified and supported by sufficient grounds.

Telegram, which claims to have over 150 million users in India, argued that the blanket ban was excessive and affected legitimate users and businesses. The company said it had complied with directions to remove channels linked to the alleged NEET paper leak and contended that specific content could have been targeted instead of blocking the entire platform.